Sixth Wheel
by myboygeorge
Summary: Esposito's the odd man out after Ryan's wedding and Castle & Beckett hook up. Now it's his turn to get the girl. Esposito/OC. Set in 'Cake Crumbs' universe. Rated 'M' for chapter 15 - 'Throwdown' - and chapter 22 'Temporary Relief' Final chapter up!
1. Poker Night

_Hello faithful readers, one and all! This story for Esposito came out of an idea I had for one of my own personal writings so hopefully you guys like it. It's a new direction for the characters but I'm doing a hybrid of my Castle-verse and the canon of the TV show. In a nutshell, it's a continuation from the timeline established in 'Cake Crumbs'. Also, if you're going to 'favourite' this story, please add a review, even if it's only once. The feedback helps develop future stories! Enjoy!  
_

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Love was in the air, and Javier Esposito was ready to choke on it. Not that he was bitter about his friends finding happiness - riding Ryan like a circus pony about being a newlywed was even better than Craig Ferguson's Magic Week and the Christmas episode of _The Big Bang Theory_ combined. And of course, it was impossible to miss the twittery little lovebirds that appeared in Technicolor whenever Castle and Beckett were in the same area code. But at the end of the night, whether it was going home after shift, or like tonight, after the precinct poker night Castle was hosting, it made him grind his teeth more than a little that Ryan and Honey-Milk went one way while Beckett stayed behind with her writer; even the captain had his wife and son at home.

It wasn't that he missed the drama of a relationship, and he'd had his fair share of that. But when Beckett and Castle had finally come clean about 'officially' being in a relationship and he'd seen how compatible they were even in the new phase of their relationship, Esposito had realized with no little astonishment he wanted his own version of Castle. He wanted someone fun but patient, who understood the stresses of his job, preferably a curvalicious Latina whose combination of sass and sweet would keep him on his toes. Not that he wanted his hypothetical girlfriend to be some incalculably smoking hot movie star, but did it make him chauvinistic to want someone who resembled Zoe Saldana to give him a kiss and share the popcorn bowl with when he went home at night? The closest thing he'd come to have a date in the last little while was Ryan and Honey-Milk's wedding when he'd spent the night making Alexis' college friend go all googly-eyed, and it was more than a little lowering to admit he'd almost asked a teenager for her number.

Even if she was a dead ringer for Lupe Velez.

'Esposito?'

'Hmm?' Esposito shook himself out of his fog, glanced at Beckett's concerned look. Her green eyes were eying him warily.

'It's your call.'

'Oh, right.' Esposito looked at the cards on the table, his own, and folded his own measly junk pile. 'I'm out. Anyone for more beer?'

Castle pursed his lips, watched him pick a bottle out of the bowl of ice on the counter. He'd seen the distance in Esposito's eyes, recognized all too well the signs of benign jealousy. 'I'll take one. Winning your partner's money makes me thirsty.'

Ryan smiled thinly, tossed in his own hand. 'I'm out, and I'm out. Jenny's on mornings at the hospital starting tomorrow so if I want to see her before she turns into a fanged monster, I better head out.' He opened his wallet, tossed his share of the pot onto the table. 'Beckett, see that you win that back, buy me my new coffee mug for the station, you hear?'

Hardly ten minutes had past before Beckett won the final hand of the night, made a slight show of yawning and reminding Castle they had to be to bed early since she was due in court the next morning. Castle gave her a little kiss on the cheek but stayed at the table while Esposito neatly stacked the poker chips back into columns in the box, giving the task more than its due concentration. He said nothing, just went to his liquor cabinet and returned to the table with his stash of Goslings rum he knew Esposito preferred to whiskey. He poured two short glasses, nudged one over to his friend.

'Talk.'

Esposito looked up from his chip organizing, took the offered booze. 'Talk?'

'Put your thoughts into words in your mouth and spit them out in sentences.'

'Just have a lot on my mind that's all.' But the instant he tasted the molasses rum, his resistance to discussing his personal life weakened. 'I don't know, just...being around you guys...'

'Does it bother you?' Concerned, Castle sat up a little straighter.

'Not bother, believe me no. No one is happier for you three than me. It's just...it's hard being single around two new couples. I'm always the odd man out. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I just...I miss it.'

'You want me to get you a girl?'

Esposito choked on his rum. 'Castle, I'm a cop. I'd have to arrest myself.'

Castle only laughed and shook his head. 'Not like that. I just meant I could put out some feelers amongst my female acquaintances, see if there's anyone interested.'

God help him, he must be truly in the pathetic stage, Esposito thought grumpily, if he was getting Castle's leftovers. Then again, Castle's leftovers were usually better than most friend fix-ups.

'Alright. Do it.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	2. Speed Date

_FTR: I am not making any political statements in this chapter. The character of Rachel is meant to be a bubble-headed media personality, like many we see on reality TV today.  
_

* * *

Four days later, on his only night off, Esposito found himself at Cypress, a trendy new spot where the men wore suits and no one asked about menu prices. Castle was true to his word, and had arranged a date with Rachel Shepard, channel six's cute-n-bubbly weather girl. Across the table was a nearly asleep Beckett; Castle had disappeared to the men's room, leaving Esposito to fidget with his tie and scan the menu for something that wouldn't break his food budget like hurled crystal.

'I feel like a fool.'

'Don't. I'm sure she'll be lovely.' Beckett yawned, crossed her legs again as she sipped her icy chardonnay. She loathed court days; they drained her of energy. All the waiting around when she could be at her desk working on other cases, plus she had to put more effort than conditioner and a blow-dryer into doing her hair and make sure she had some fancy lady suit all ready to go. Thank god Castle had given her closet space and a drawer for her things at his apartment; her mornings would be much more stressed and leave little time for other things. The thought made her bite her lip, then shake her head. Now was not the time for x-rated day-dreams about her shadow boyfriend, not when she was both at work and Esposito seemed to be having some kind of crisis. 'What time is she supposed to be getting here?'

'At eight. Should I have gotten her flowers or something?'

Despite his cool exterior, Beckett knew his heart was just as mushy, if not moreso, than Ryan's. But like herself, he'd been burned so keeping people at a distance was something they had in common. It was twisted but it also made their friendship work off the job. 'I think that'd be a little desperate looking. Second date, it's romantic, but a first date, especially a blind friend fix-up it's just needy.'

'Okay.' Esposito looked up from the menu - who the hell needed to pay forty dollars for chicken anyways? - felt his chest tighten when he saw Castle accompanying a petite brunette to the table. She wore a gaudy neon pinky silk mini-dress and the dozen or so silver bangles on her wrist jangled like wind chimes as she shook his hand.

'Rachel Shepard. It's nice to meet you Javier.'

'You as well.' Because his mother had raised a gentleman, he stood to pull her chair out. 'Would you like a glass of wine?'

'Oh no thanks. No alcohol for me. Have to be bright and fresh in the morning.'

Esposito nodded politely. 'You're the channel six weather girl.'

'Not as easy as people think. I mean, you have to know where to point. I could never be a cop. Those horrible vests? I mean hello, it's not the seventies anymore.'

'Yeah, we really should be more concerned with fashion then not taking a slug to the chest.'

Rachel gave him a polite nod, then looked at the menu, snorted. 'God, is this whole thing in French? I mean, what the hell is poo-let ow camp-angie?'

Before anyone could answer her, Rachel's cellphone rang. She smiled apologetically, dashing off to take the call. Back at the table, Esposito slammed his menu shut, gave Castle a death glare.

'I could be watching the Blackhawks home-opener tonight at Cecil's eating chilli fries and drinking ice cold Coke. Instead I'm out with a woman who has the intelligence of a carrot and I'm about to buy her dinner with three-quarters of my weekly grocery money. And the irony is that she probably will throw it up anyways.'

'I'm sorry,' Castle hissed, realizing too late what a mistake he'd made in picking Rachel. The girl was nice, but she had the IQ of a sock-puppet; a guy who TiVo'd _Shark Week_ and solve murders for a living wouldn't be satisfied with a woman who made Paris Hilton look like Isaac Newton. 'You want an escape hatch, I could get you to take Beckett home, tell Rachel you two were called in?'

'No. I asked you to find me a date, I'll stick around.' Resigned, Esposito took a large gulp of his drink, watched as Rachel click-clacked on four-inch heels back to the table.

'Sorry, my agent. He's trying to get me into this sitcom audition, but I have to speak German at the audition. I'm sorry but once again, this is America, we speak English here.'

Esposito couldn't resist. 'I speak two languages, and I was born in Manhattan.'

'Yeah but you're Mexican. All of you speak Mexican and English.'

'I'm Puerto Rican, actually.'

'Sorry, then all of you speak Portuguese.'

Esposito stared at the woman; had he not been so insulted he'd have pissed himself laughing. Instead he polished off his drink, took his coat of the back of his chair and tossed a twenty onto the table. 'Castle, Beckett, see you at work. Rachel, it was something else. I'm outta here.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	3. Antidote

'Hey, Javi! Usual for my favourite cop?'

'Thanks Cecil.'

'Coming up.'

Esposito loosened his tie, fought the urge to thump his forehead against the polished oak bar of Cecil's Tavern. It was a friendly neighbourhood hang-out spot, the kind where the after-school crowd slugged down Coke and Fresca while studying, the girls could have a relaxing night out and the boys could go to shoot the shit over a pint and the game of the night. No one ever bothered with fake IDs or rough housing because they all knew the owner Cecil Marquis, a tough-faced Haitian, kept a Louisville slugger mounted behind the bar as a visual deterrent. Not that it was needed, though, as Cecil looked more like a spine-twister for the Mob than a bartender - he was roughly six-foot-five with hands the size of Esposito's head, skin the colour of good coffee and sharp black eagle eyes. The popular rumour was that no security cameras were needed at Cecil's because nothing happened without him seeing it first.

Cecil came back with a frosted pint of Coke and a roll of cutlery. 'Chilli fries are on their way. You missed one hell of a first period. Where you at?'

'Blind date from hell. You know the weather girl Rachel, on channel six?'

'The tiny one with the juicy, juicy mangoes in her dress?'

'Turns out she's just as blank as her weather screens. But I suppose I can't complain I mean, I asked my friend to fix me up, and in a weird way, he came through.'

Cecil laughed, tilted his head to size up a group of college kids who'd sat down at a booth. If they were old enough to drink, he was losing his touch, which meant the fake IDs would be confiscated and torched tonight. 'I'll be back in a moment.'

Esposito turned his attention to his Coke - it was juvenile but he couldn't help it. His grandmother, a Chicago native, had always served Coke whenever the hockey game was on and he'd carried on the tradition whenever the Black-hawks played. He watched as Toews elbowed his opponent into the boards, cheering quietly when he avoided the penalty. By the time his second period ended, the Hawks were up by two over the Rangers and he'd almost forgotten about the hell of Rachel Shepard.

He barely registered that someone had sat down two seats over from him until he heard her voice and immediately felt a warming sensation in his chest.

'Cecil, hit me and I don't mean a drink, I mean take that big ol' bat of yours and use my skull for target practice.'

Esposito turned, saw the woman pulled long fingers through her honey-caramel hair. The fact she was a white girl had him pausing a moment; the husky alto voice was one he'd have pegged immediately as Portuguese or Italian. She was a sturdy build, wearing jeans, sandals and a grey zipped-up hoodie, and dropped a black leather hand bag the size of Texas at her feet. He lifted an eyebrow when Cecil poured her a shot of tequila and she pounded it straight back with no lemon or salt; the other one went up with it when she nudge the shot glass toward him and he refilled it for her.

'You got boy problems or work problems tonight, cherie?'

'A little of both. The boy causing the problems is my boss and he's been an absolute asshole ever since that big-titted blonde in Publicity started banging him. Apparently it doesn't matter her cup-size is also the same digits as her IQ when she gives it away like M&M's on the fourth-floor photocopier.'

Before he could help himself, Esposito laughed, making the caramel-haired woman turn and slice him in two with what Esposito now saw were laser blue eyes. 'Something funny, Pablo?'

'I was just thinking how we both had nights ruined by vapidly stupid people.'

'Really.' She turned toward him, all innocent smiles. 'Do tell.'

Esposito got up, moved the one chair over. When he sat down, he caught a whiff of some vaguely European scent that made his blood swim a little faster. 'A friend of mine fixed me up with what had to be the dippiest woman I've ever met. Not only did she manage to broadly insult French cuisine and the entire Hispanic community of New York, but also called bullshit on the fashion sense of the NPYD Kevlar vests.'

'Five bucks says you broke the sound barrier getting the hell out of there.'

'I think I might have left a vapor-trail. I don't know, I didn't look back so I can't be sure. And to boot, I'm still hungry.'

She laughed, a low throaty musical sound. 'Okay, you win. That is much worse than your boss getting pissy about being sixteen words over limit on your latest article. Funny how he never had problems when I was two hundred over and he was a lonely pathetic gino whose only sexual relationship was with a washcloth and a stained Playboy photo of Vitani Boulder-Shaun.'

'You're a sassy one, aren't you?'

'Javi, your fries.' Cecil hated to interrupt between two of his favourite regulars, who had surprisingly never met, but he also knew to delay his favourite cop his chilli fries was to risk certain death. 'You want another fork?'

'I don't know, are you hungry...' Esposito trailed off, waited a beat. 'This is the part where you say your name.'

'Oh, sorry, I'm Meredeth. Meredeth Coleman.'

'Javier Esposito. Nice to meet you, Meredeth. Chilli fry?'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	4. Chilli Fries and ChitChat

During the third period they poked away at the chilli fries, Esposito washing his down with Coke, Meredeth with a mix of tequila and Sprite. The rest of the conversations in the bar, even the game, seemed to faded into background static as he listened to her talk. She had the most fascinating timbre to her voice, even if half of what she said was the vocal equivalent of honey-coated barbed-wire.

'How could you possibly think anything after the ninth season has any merit? Everyone knows season eight was their best work.'

'You just say that because you're a Johnny Cash fan. Season ten of _The Simpsons_ was awesome. Though, truth be told it was the first full season with no Troy McClure.'

'I suppose you think that _The Godfather Part III_ was a crowning achievement of cinema too.'

'Was that the one with Andy Garcia?'

Meredeth let her fork clatter comically to her plate. 'What do you mean, was that the one with Andy Garcia? Of course it was! He was the only redeeming thing in that shit-heap of a film. I don't even own a copy and I own over three hundred movies.'

Esposito stuffed a fry in his mouth; that way it'd be harder to shoe-horn his foot in. Clearly, Meredeth was not a girl to tango with when it came to the subject of films. 'Have you seen the new Matt Damon flick out?'

'_The Adjustment Bureau?_ Not yet. It wasn't on my cover-list. I'm a media critic, of sorts,' she explained off his look. 'I write for an online site, so I mainly work from home, but twice a week, I'm forced to deal with the fuck-wit the powers that be call my editor.'

'Poor you. We should check it out.'

Meredeth smiled at him. He was charming, and he'd had just as rough a night as her, if not worse. And she could always get the skinny on him later from Cecil. 'Sure, I suppose.'

She pulled out her iPhone, tapped the screen. 'What's good for you? I'm pretty flexible.'

'Is that an iPhone? Mind if I have a look?'

Meredeth considered only a moment saying no; Cecil knew the guy, he was a cop, but it didn't mean he wasn't a player. 'Everyone complained when they first came out how un-user-friendly they were, but I think most people just didn't have the patience and turned three hundred dollar pieces of technology into very expensive coasters.'

'True say. My grandmother calls me up every time her satellite connection goes down, thinking I know it all because I'm 'the boy',' Esposito explained with the requisite eyeroll for his beloved abuela, making Meredeth laugh. 'God forbid she should be without her 'Hawks games.'

'You're from Chicago, then?'

'No, but she is and even after thirty-plus years in Spanish Harlem, she remains devoted.'

'Tell me about it. You can tell mine the Mets suck all you want, and she still has the day her season tickets are mailed out marked on her calendar like it's a birthday or something.'

Esposito smiled at her. Once you got past that prickly exterior, he saw they had more in common than he'd guess. 'So, _The Adjustment Bureau,_ you free on Saturday?'

'I suppose so. It's just that...'

The bounce was gone from her voice, replaced with a weariness that made Esposito feel like a fool. Of course she wasn't single; why would he think someone like her would be on the market? She was about to give him the 'we can still be friends' brush-off. And why, he thought with an oily slick of panic coating his stomach, was that making him feeling so squirmy inside? He'd just met her not an hour and a half before. What she said next nearly had him fall off his chair.

'Why would you want to go on a date with me?'

She was joking right? This had to be some kind of sick joke she was playing on him. But when he saw the sadness, the caution creep into her eyes, Esposito realized she wasn't joking, nor was she fishing for compliments. She was most likely coming off of a bad break-up, past the rebound stage but still wary. Instead, he nudge the plate towards her, let her finish the last of his preciously treasured chilli fries. 'Because you're awesome and I think it'd be fun.'

The simple conviction of his words had her smiling again. If he really knew her track record with relationships, he'd probably run screaming in the other direction. 'Okay. But I'm apologizing in advance if I turn into Mount Saint Cuckoo and spew molten crazy on you. I've had some bad luck, I mean really shit luck with guys in the past, so first dates aren't so much romantic fairy tales to me as they are Geiger-counters of how screwed up things are or will get.'

Not just off a bad break-up, he realized, but severely burned. Fiancee ran off with her bridesmaid, he guessed, or one of his ushers. Letting it go for the time being, he took a sip of his drink and shook his head reassuringly. 'I'm a murder cop, Mere. There's not a lot I haven't seen, heard or dealt with, and trust me, until you've dated a couple of the husband-hunters from my grandmother's neighbourhood, don't go thinking you've got the corner market on crazy.'

'Don't be so sure. I once camped out for _Phantom Menace _tickets.'

'Oh well, then I take it back.'

She laughed richly, making some of the tension disappear. Mere considered him as he glanced up to check the score of the game, bit her lip to hide the smile as she saw the innner little-boy of him cheer as the Blackhawks scored to make it four-to-one with three minutes left in the period. She opened her mouth to offer her number to him when her cell being to merrily sing 'Telephone' by Lady Gaga.

'Of course.' She grabbed it off the bar, saw it was her editor and rolled her eyes. He only called after hours if it was important, like the-Internet-is-about-to-die important. 'I'm sorry, I have to take this.'

Esposito watched her as she took the call, and slid into work mode just as easily he did when he got a call. Whoever it was on the other end of the line was getting properly reamed out, but had made some kind of deal as Meredeth rolled her eyes in frustration, agreed to the midnight showing. When she hung up, she was equal parts irriated and apologetic.

'I have to leave. My editor wants me to cover the midnight showing of _Fire Walk_. The girl who was supposed to do it had some kind of emergency. I'll see you later.'

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, as if it was an old habit of theirs, left the bar to catch the train back to her apartment to get her notes off her laptop. It wasn't until she was on the Five train that she looked at her phone and saw the little flag saying she had a new memo. A few quick taps and she was grinning like a fool. 'Clever boy,' she murmured aloud to herself.

_J. Esposito. 212-554-0679_

_Let me know where to meet you on Saturday night.  
_

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	5. Riding in Cars

Esposito decided to keep meeting Meredeth at Cecil's to himself, not only because things were still in the incubating stage but because Castle needed to kiss his ass for unleashing the airhead nightmare of Rachel on him. As expected, on Thursday morning when he walked into the precinct, he saw there was a coffee already waiting for him on his desk in a brand new mug. At Beckett's desk, Castle sat going over crime scene photos, making notes on a yellow legal pad.

'Thought you writer-types only used Mac Books for drafting your genius quips.'

Castle looked up, a combination of apology and frustration on his face. 'I'm sorry, man. I really didn't know. When I met her at the _Storm Falls_ launch, she was chatting with one of the Ledger's book critics, so I figured she was one of those elusive Harvard-educated models, like Brooke Shields.'

'Brooke Shields went to Princeton.'

'And the male fantasy world is a better place for it. Cream, no sugar,' he added when Esposito picked up the coffee on his desk. 'How long am I going to pay for it?'

'I'll get back to you.'

Esposito felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, discreetly checked it and had to stop himself from grinning ear to ear.

_Fire Walk is a piece of crap, but the AMC 16 was nice. They have chilli fries there too. See ya there. M.  
_

'Gentlemen, good morning.' Wearing another suit that meant a day in court, Beckett strolled into her bullpen with her jacket on her arm, making Esposito drop his phone back into his pocket a little too quickly to be smooth. 'We caught a break in the Finch-Satipo case. It seems both victims frequented the Nuyorican bodega on East Ninety-Second Street. Ryan, Esposito, I want you to run some surveillance, see if our potential next targets are in there at all, we might catch a break on this guy. Castle, let's move, we're due at court for the Bluth homicide.'

As Ryan parked in Spanish Harlem a few doors down from the bodega, Esposito sent a quick text back to Meredeth: _Good thing we're going to see Matt Damon on Sat night, 8:45pm. Chilli fries at the movies? I'm a popcorn guy. See ya soon. J._

It hadn't gone unnoticed by Ryan that his partner, usually full of chatter, barely said five whole sentences that morning. 'What's up with you today?'

'What do you mean what's up?'

'Normally your up my ass with noise the minute you set foot in the squad room. What's up?'

'Nothing, just some personal stuff.' Esposito bit his lip, unsure of how to tell newlywed Ryan about Meredeth, or even if he wanted to. Ryan was as much a Mr. Fix-it for people as he was with household chores, which didn't bode well for anyone unloading their burdens on him. A good listener he was, but advice was not his forte. 'It's nothing,' he repeated.

Ryan let it slide, thought about bribing him with cemitas from their second favourite Mexican restaurant for lunch, or with the chocolate pretzels Esposito favoured from the confectioner's across the street; despite his healthy eating habits, Esposito was a chocolate junkie. Instead, he decided to pull out one of his wife's tricks and lasso him into spilling his guts.

'I heard you were on the date from hell last night.'

'Castle has a big mouth.'

It was actually Beckett who'd mentioned it, but that was besides Ryan's point. 'I get it, the illusion of a celebrity can be ruined when you meet them, and I'm guessing Rachel the Weather Girl was no exception.'

'You think I'm holding a grudge over that?'

'Well you've been moody since then, and theory of parsimmony says you either got rack-jacked or rejected.'

Esposito shook his head, drank water. He knew was Ryan was trying to do, and Esposito was finding it very hard to resist the temptation to tell all. 'I ditched her. She was an airhead.'

'And?'

'And nothing. I went to Cecils, had my usual coke and chilli fries, watched the game with Meredeth and went home.'

'Whose Meredeth?'

_Shit_, was all Esposito could think, _rookie mistake_. In his effort to get Ryan to shut his nosy yap, he'd slid Meredeth's name in with even realizing, and in his hesitation, gave Ryan the inadvertent opening he sought.

'You got a girl?'

'Yes...no, well...it's confusing.' Esposito shifted uncomfortably, watched the shop they were staking out as he told his partner about her confused reaction to his asking her out.

'Maybe she isn't used to dating.'

Esposito sent him a bland look. 'No. Not possible. Women who look like her are kicking guys out of her way just to take the train to work.'

'Yeah? Like Salma Hayek hot or Eva Mendes hot?'

'More like Kate Dillon hot. She's got the most incredible smile, laser blue eyes, caramel-coloured hair.'

Ryan said nothing as he stared out the window. It was a far cry from his usual type, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. 'Is that the problem? She's a snowflake?'

'I'm not prejudiced, man. We were chatting over the game and when I asked her to see a movie, she acted like asking her out was along the lines of being told UFO abductions are totally legit.'

'Ah. The classic Katy Perry move.'

'The what?'

'You know, like the song, Hot-n-Cold.'

'I got it.' Esposito cut Ryan off sharply before he could bust out his karaoke skills which were pathetic at best, just like his own. 'I don't know what her problem is. Maybe she'll explain it better on Saturday.'

'Wait, you're going through with the movie?'

'Provided we're not on overtime with the case. Why?'

'It means one of three things. You're either brave, hard-up, or sincerely interested whether you realized it or not.'

Before Esposito could respond, he saw their target walk into the bodega and was jumping out of the car. 'How about saving the psychoanalysis for Dr Phil we do some police work, Mr. Honey-Milk?'

Ryan only shook his head as Esposito went inside while Ryan kept watch on the exterior in case they needed a call for back up. 'Touchy. Boy's got it bad.'

* * *

R_&R&Enjoy_.


	6. Flirting With Popcorn

_Hey everyone, thanks for reading! __Let's try to get s'more reviews up for this one! __Tell a friend, PM a fellow author! This chapter's a little longer, but all necessary!  
_

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On Saturday night, Esposito barely made it out of the ticket line alive - he'd forgotten how savage date-night film-goers were - when he nearly ran over Meredeth, who had just arrived.

'Hey you!' Her grin was quick and easy; she embraced him tightly, and he got a whiff of some vaguely European scent.

'You look...wow.' He felt his mind go blank as he took her in: she was in jeans and sandals again, but the grey hoodie was gone in favour of a tight black shirt that showed off glorious breasts that would make a gay man switch teams. Before he could stutter like a teenager he held out a ticket. 'It was a lion fight but I got the last two seats.'

'You wanna talk lion fight, I was reviewing _Eclipse_ back in June and I actually saw two teenage girls get into a fisticuffs over the last seat.'

'I remember that.' Unsure of what to do with hands itching to touch her, Esposito shoved them into his pockets as they went inside. 'My buddy Arnold in the 64th said it took four uniforms to separate them.'

'Never anger a Twi-hard on opening night.'

Esposito laughed. 'Twi-hard?'

'Those really insane fans of _Twilight_.' Meredeth scanned the candy counter, debated getting a box of Whoppers. 'Like Dead-heads without tie-dyed shirts and copious amounts of sticky green.'

He shook his head, stepped up to order and did a double take at the cute counter girl. 'Hey! Sloan! I didn't know you worked here!'

'Hi, Javi!' Sloan's smile brightened tenfold as she recognized him from the Ryan-Honey-Milk party. 'What can I get you?'

'Popcorn for the lady, Coke on ice, and...' He looked at Meredeth. 'Fanta, Diet Coke, Icee?'

'A bottle of water.'

'Coming right up.'

When Sloan dashed away, Meredeth elbowed him in the ribs, did her female duty. 'Shame on you.'

'Not what you think. She's a friend of Castle's daughter Lex.'

After Sloan popped back with their order, Esposito paid the tab and they found seats in the auditorium. 'Castle, as in Richard Castle? The author?'

'Yeah. We're friends.' He felt an uncomfortable pinch of jealousy; he figured Castle was the kind of guy Meredeth would usually go for. Hell, Castle's first wife _was_ named Meredeth. As the lights dimmed, Esposito found comfort in the dark. He'd always been a fan of the first-date movie for a variety of reasons, but more than anything, he loved that he could get closer to his date without feeling like an obvious asshole and he definitely wanted to be closer to Meredeth. He leaned over, playfully sniffed at the popcorn she held with a death grip. 'You gonna share that?'

'I'm rarely possessive about food but...mine.'

'We'll see about that.'

Esposito left it alone for the duration of the previews, but by the time the opening credits rolled, he figured she'd had long enough to be comfortable and by God so had he. Reaching in a hand for popcorn, he felt something hit his left temple, followed by a giggle.

'I said mine.'

'I was just trying to cop a feel.'

She snorted at him; satisfied for the moment Esposito draped his arm over her shoulders, munched the over-salted popcorn and unknowingly made Meredeth's insides turn to Jell-O. It had been a long time, longer than anyone actually knew, that she'd been on a date. More, that she'd actually found a man she was interested in going on a date with. There was no doubt Javier Esposito was a manly man but he was sweet and self-effacing, two qualities that usually made her think the guy she was talking to batted for the other team. She gave him a sideways glance, studied his profile. He had goofy-looking ears, no question, but his smile was quick and he did have delicious yum-yum eyes. Who better to get her back into the game?

When he reached in for more popcorn, she grabbed his hand. 'You want popcorn, you should have gotten your own.'

'I bought it to share.' Esposito tightened his grip when she tried to unlink her hand from his. 'Not so fast, missy.'

He never let go the entire film, spent most of it focused on the feel of her skin; smooth and soft. By the time the end credits rolled, he'd gone through no less than eight scenarios in his inner fantasy-land about how that skin would taste on the rest of her body, each one making him equal parts aroused and embarrassed.

They left the theatre, her hand still in his, breathed in fresh air - insofar as the air in late-fall of New York City could be called 'fresh' - as they walked towards the subway station.

'I had a good time tonight.'

'I did too.' Meredeth said the words automatically, realized they were true after they were out of her mouth. 'I'm sorry about giving you the gears on...Sloan, was it?'

'Yeah, she's a photography student at Columbia. Nice kid.' Esposito slowed his pace, knowing that once they hit the terminal, she'd probably want to go home, alone. Not if he could help it though, or at the very least, delay it. 'It's still early, we could go get some coffee or something.'

'Or something being...'

'Well,' Esposito pondered it, thought of how Castle would handle such a quandary, 'A beer, some street meat...or a nightcap at my place.'

Before she had a chance to answer, his phone went off. _Of course_, he thought. He flipped open his phone, switched off date-night-Javi. 'Esposito. Yeah...really...okay, no, I'll be there in like ten, fifteen minutes. I'm already in the Barrio. Right. Later.'

He hung up, feeling dejected as he turned back to Meredeth. 'I'm sorry. I have to go. We caught a break on the case and-'

'No, no, I understand.' And she did; there was no selfishness or self-pity in her tone. Facing him, she brushed popcorn crumbs from his shirtfront. 'You have to go when you get the call. I guess the ball's in my court now, huh?'

'What?'

'About our next date.'

Hope glimmered like a little ray of sunshine in a sudden rainstorm. 'Next date, huh?'

'Trust me, Detective, had you not gotten that call, this date wouldn't be over until tomorrow, after breakfast. You know?'

He knew exactly what she meant, which made leaving all the tougher. He brushed a hand down her arm. 'I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?'

'Okay.'

He turned to leave, then cursing himself a fool, turned back. _Fuck it, _he thought. _Ryan can wait two minutes_. Pulling Meredeth closed he whispered in her ear, 'I was hoping for somewhere more private for this.'

Without waiting for her to say anything, Esposito tilted her chin up, kissed her lightly. Tiny electric blue shock-waves raced down his spine, lodge in his stomach as he deepened the kiss, felt her kiss him back. That magnificently curved body was pressed up against his, making him groan as he pulled away.

'I'm sorry. I have to go.'

'Okay.'

He gave her one last peck on the lips, dashed into the subway station. Had he had the time to glance back, he would have seen hard-headed New-Yorker Meredeth rooted to the spot, staring up at the sky and grinning like a fool.

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	7. Lanie Equals Awesome

Esposito arrived at the morgue to find Ryan and Castle, much to his chagrin, chatting with Lanie already in her workspace; Bodega Stalker Victim Number Three was laid out on the slab, neatly draped but not in the deconstruction stage of autopsy. _Worth it_, he decided as he adjusted his shirt collar and walked in. 'What's the good word, Lanie?'

'In general, obelischolychny. For our visit, soda pop. All three victims had this particular brand of soft-drink in their system, so I did a little online snooping. Three places in Manhattan sell it. The Beverage Bar in Madison Square Garden, the in-house cafe at the Puerto Rican consulate and the Nuyorican, same place all three of your victims were known to be regulars, right?'

'That's right.' Ryan flipped out his notepad, scanned the names. 'First one was Leia Finch, store regular. Second was part-time counter chef Fredo Satipo, and third was homeboy here, Brandon Weaver, cousin by marriage to the owner.'

'Did they get a bad batch?' Esposito forced himself to focus on Lanie's bulletin, ignoring how Castle stared at his face. He was used to Castle's eccentricities, but this was weird even for him.

'Beckett scored some sample bottles from the same case as these ones. All came up clean which made me think, and look for any unusual marks on the body.' Now she moved over to the table, threw back the discreet drape to reveal the post-Y incision body of Brandon Weaver in all his corpsy glory. With gloved hands she pointed out purple veins across the victim's lower belly, as well as down the insides of his thighs and arms. 'Found this on all three of the victims, which makes me think-'

'Spider-man Poison,' Castle filled in.

Ryan furrowed his brow. 'What's that?'

'It's a combination of three separate benign chemicals that you mix together to make one very lethal combination. In a high enough dose, you get veins popping out on your arms and legs and little clusters of veins turning purple in more sensitive area.' When Castle glanced over at Esposito, he squinted at him a little, making Esposito want to lose his mind.

'You stop at a bakery before coming here?'

'What?'

'You got a jelly doughnut souvenir on your mouth,' Castle said, tapped the side of his lower right lip.

_Shit_. Had he been in there the entire time with Meredeth's lipstick on his face? Esposito hastily rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth, a move that didn't go unnoticed by Lanie. She recovered Mr. Weaver and stripped off her gloves to grab a file but instead of passing it over the slab she walked around, strategically placed herself between Esposito and the other two.

'Toxicology for all three victims, along with my official findings on Mr. Weaver. Now scurry along boys, I have paper work awaiting. Not so fast, Don Juan,' she murmured to Esposito when he went to leave, merely holding up a finger to stop him in his tracks. When Ryan and Castle had gone through the doors, Lanie turned, folded her arms across her chest and smiled coyly.

'What's her name?'

'Whose name?'

'The owner of the lipstick you had on your mouth.'

'Who says it wasn't a pastry?'

'Because if you'd stopped at a Dunkin, you'd have gone for the double chocolate twist. What is her name?

He sighed, stuffed his hands in his pockets; playing dumb with Lanie was always a losing game. 'Meredeth. I met her last Wednesday. Tonight was our first date.'

'And here I am ruining your date night with a dead body. Was she angry?'

'Surprisingly, no. Said she understood I had to go since I got a call. How is it you're the one busting my chops and not the turtledoves?'

Lanie pursed her lips as she took two bottles of water from her hidden stash, passed one to him. 'Please, if it isn't related to Beckett or a case, Castle doesn't pick up on it these days, and Ryan's still got that Smurf-sex newlywed brain.' She drank deeply to clear the chemical stink of autopsy from her mouth. 'Tell me about her.'

'Born New Yorker, no siblings. Single parent family, mother died when she was eleven, grandmother lives in Chelsea and raised her, went to Columbia for school. She's a writer for an online magazine and a die-hard Blackhawks fan, and very selfish with her movie snacks.'

'She pretty?'

'Oh, Lanie.' Esposito pressed a hand to his heart, pretended to stagger. 'Juicy-booty, full-figured blue-eyed honey-haired goddess.'

The description triggered something in Lanie's mind, and she went to her work bag by the lab bench, pulled out a paperback graphic novel entitled _Lady Hawk: Midnight is Crashing_ and handed it over. 'That her?'

Esposito stared in shock at the black and white headshot of the author - Meredeth sat on a leather sofa in her favoured jeans and bare feet, looking both sexy and intelligent. 'Yeah, it is. Where'd you find this?'

'Honey, Meredeth Coleman is the author of the _Lady Hawk_ series. Some people have called her books a feminist version of _Batman_. And that little digital online magazine she works for? That would be _Critical Condition_, one of the top on-line film and television recap and review sites. She's one of their top writers and regular columnists. Not only that, she has a masters in film history and her first short story collection just came out a few weeks ago. Her Twitter feed says she's going to be taping interviews with the Jimmys and Craig Ferguson in a week or two to promote it.'

Esposito said nothing as he absorbed this new twist. Another writer/cop romance for the 12th, he mused; then again, Beckett and Castle were deliriously happy together so maybe there was something to that combo. His fingers itched for the book to take home with him and see for himself that quick brain at work, more for his phone to dial her up and see if she was up for a quick night-cap so he could tease her in person, since she'd given him such grief over knowing Richard Castle. 'Mind if I borrow that? She never mentioned it and I need to tease her desperately.'

'Tell you what.' Thrilled to see her co-worker in the unwittingly bubbly stage of new romance, Lanie passed him the book. 'I'll distract those two outside if you want to make a quick call.'

Grateful for her understanding, Esposito counted to five after Lanie swung into the hall outside the autopsy room, then dialled Meredeth's number. She answered after four rings.

'Didn't expect to hear from you tonight.'

'I have a moment, there, Lady Hawk.'

She giggled, a youthful sound that made him grin. 'Ah, you found me out.'

'So do you lead a secret life like your Tabitha Stroud or is it more like _Heroes_ and you keep everything private?'

'Well, I- heehee, Arturo, no!' The giggle turned into a full out laugh, but Esposito saw little flecks of green in front of his eyes at the mention of another man's name. 'He's licking my toes.'

Esposito felt light-headed at the notion of her with someone that wasn't him. 'Am I interrupting something?'

'No. Arturo's my dog, and the salt from my sweaty feet is, evidently, an ideal midnight snack for him.'

'Oh.'

'Oh? Oh! I get it, you thought I had some smooth-chested cabana boy here servicing me.' It gave Meredeth a secret little rush to think that he was jealous at the idea of her with another man. 'I thought I told you my dog's name was Arturo.'

'No, only that you had one.'

'Well you can meet him when you come over for dinner on Tuesday. Pizza and brownies, to go along with the Blackhawks/Red Wings game.'

'Like store bought or from scratch?'

'My secret recipe. Triple chocolate with walnuts and banana cream cheese frosting.'

Esposito cleared his throat and tried to sound casual, but the idea of Meredeth, hockey and homemade brownies was almost too much, especially when he was on the clock. 'Tuesday, six-thirty, I'll bring the wine.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	8. Chez Mere

By Tuesday, Esposito had only three things on his mind - the Bodega stalker case, dogs and wine. The case itself was turning out to be a very Castle-esque situation, but he had little trouble putting that on hold as he climbed the stairs to the third floor of the modest Yorkville apartment building. It was something he'd always envied Ryan in his relationship with Honey-Milk, how whenever she was around, Ryan could so easily turn off that cop-brain and be a regular guy. Maybe he'd just been in a girlfriend-drought too long, Esposito thought, twisting the bottle of pinot grigio in his hand. The woman at the liquor store had said it was a good all-purpose wine; he hoped that Meredeth liked it. He also hoped that Meredeth's dog liked him - for some reason, despite being a canine lover himself, past girlfriends' chihuahuas and terriers had not taken so kindly to him. God, too many nervous thoughts swirling inside he brain; he had to get them out, and the way to do that, he figured, was to start the date.

He knocked on Meredeth's door, heard excited barks from inside and braced himself. It was a good thing he did - the second the door was open, an animal easily mistakable for a small palomino launched itself at Esposito, knocking him back a full two steps as it planted large paws on his chest. Somewhere behind it, he heard Meredeth's voice snapping sharply.

'Arturo, no! Down!'

'Good boy,' Esposito managed, seeing it was in fact a dog, and scratched its ears. 'Off you get.'

'I said down, now!' Reaching out and grabbing hold of his bright green collar, Meredeth hauled Arturo back inside, greeted Esposito with a quick smile as she shut the door to prevent an escape. 'He knows better than that, don't you, Artie?'

The dog, who was now wriggling its butt on the floor, looked over its shoulder at Meredeth with what Esposito could swear was a guilty apology. 'What kind of dog is he?'

'Boxer-Great Dane mix. Believe it or not he was the runt of the litter.'

Esposito's eyebrows winged up. ' I'd hate to see big brother.'

'Don't be fooled, he's a real suck. Watch this. Arturo,' Meredeth bent down so she was almost eye-level with her baby. 'Want a snack? Want some cheese?'

Arturo's ears flew up like periscopes and he immediately raced into the kitchen, sat licking his lips by the refrigerator. Intrigued, Esposito watched as she took a cube of cheddar out of a small plastic tub, made Arturo shake both paws and flop to the floor before getting his treat. She told him 'all gone' like he was a little kid, to which Arturo promptly stood up and trotted back over to Esposito.

'Impressive,' he commented, scratching Arturo behind the ears as he looked around the apartment. He'd been so preoccupied with the dog nearly bowling him over, he hadn't had a chance to really get the lay of the land. It was larger than his own, but definitely smaller than Castle's castle: one level with the kitchen done in sandy oranges, while the living room was dominated by a thirty-two inch plasma TV; against one wall was a floor-to-ceiling shelving unit that housed a DVD collection of eye-popping proportions. The TV itself was switched on and tuned to the game. Her living space, however paled in comparison to the heavenly aroma wafting out of the kitchen - a mix of tomato, bread and pastry. She hadn't been kidding, it seemed, when she said everything was homemade; the cookbook on the counter was open to a pizza dough recipe with little notations at various instructions.

'I brought wine,' he said a little awkwardly, holding out the bottle. 'Pinot grigio.'

'Oh lovely. I'm not one for white wine but this stuff I do like.' Meredeth reached into a cabinet, came up with two wine glasses and her corkscrew. She was glad to have something to do with her hands, otherwise she'd pin him against the door and kiss him until his eyes rolled back in his head, the way hers had on Saturday night. The man could kiss, she thought with a little smile, as it made her wonder what else he'd be good at. Pouring, she tried to keep her voice casual; she was coming off an embarrassingly long singleton status and didn't want to seem too eager. 'Did you get a good break in your case on Saturday?'

'We did. Found out how the guy's been offing the victims so stealthily.' He paused, sipped the wine she brought. 'I got to spend today tracking down various sources on the murder weapon.'

'Fun. I worked on my column this morning, took Artie for a walk, then got a jump-start on a draft for my meeting with Kristof. My illustrator,' she added, delighted when she saw the proprietary glint in his eyes.

His inner Don Juan, as Lanie called it, flared up; Esposito pulled her against him, making her wine slosh to the rim of the glass. 'Good to know, because if anyone else tries this-' he dipped his head to teasingly brush his lips over hers '-then I'll have to arrest myself for murder.' He smiled fiercely as he watched her eyes cloud, then clear as she nodded. 'Hungry?'

After dinner they sat on the buttery soft couch, comfortably into the second glass of wine, Esposito was deep in thought. He was impressed she actually ate with him and didn't just pick away at one mini-slice; the little orgasmic noises she'd made over the taste had him thinking dirty thoughts once again. He knew he'd acted like the big tough macho guy when he'd first kissed her in the kitchen, but he couldn't help himself. He'd be damned if such a fine woman would have any reason to look elsewhere. Or maybe she simply brought out his passionate side because she was such a passionate person herself. Especially, he noted with a chuckle, when it came to her hockey team. Throughout the game, she moved toward him a little more with each play so that by the middle of the second period she was close enough he could wrap his arm around her waist.

'Oh come on!' she hollered at the screen as Seabrook, one of her favourite players, was whistled down. 'There's no way that was hooking.'

'You're right,' Esposito agreed. 'It'll be interference, just watch.'

Sure enough Seabrook was sent to the penalty box for interference, making Esposito poke her in the side. 'See? I called it.'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' She muttered good-naturedly as she watched the play with an avaricious eye. Two minutes later, a quick wristshot past the Red Wings goalie gave the Chicago team a one goal lead. 'Woo! Score!'

Without thinking, she turned and planted a noisy kiss on Esposito's mouth. 'Did you see that, he-'

She was cut off she she found her mouth captured by his, one hand on the back of her head, the other on her thigh. At least, she thought that's where it was, as all sensation except that in her lips had momentarily gone numb. She leaned in, sighing a little in her throat which only served to make him deepen the kiss as he pulled her closer to him. Before the smoke began to curl out from her ears, he broke the kiss, rested his forehead against hers.

'What were you saying?'

'I forget.' She laughed, a low musical sound. 'You want dessert?'

'Funny. I thought this was.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	9. Gossip, Girl

It went like that for nearly two more weeks, with Esposito filling in only Lanie on details; Meredeth mentioned it to no-one but her grandmother - trying to keep secrets from Constance Dakkars was like trying to keep Wile E. Coyote from chasing the Roadrunner - which pleased them both. Despite his initial concern that he was acting like she was a 'dirty little secret', Meredeth rightly pointed out that in his job, information was as dangerous as dynamite and nowhere did rumours spread faster than a police precinct. And, she'd added as they'd debated the point over her homemade lasagne - much as it lowered him to admit, a woman who could cook was worth her weight in gold - they weren't having some sordid affair, it was simply a matter of keeping their personal lives personal.

Esposito did discover that the theory was much easier than the application, though, as neither could resist send each other texts stuffed with innuendo and double entendres during their work hours. As he had no private office of his own and he shared a ride with Ryan, he figured he deserved an Oscar for the way he was able to keep a straight face when she sent him notes like '_Just got out of the bath, i'm all wet and missing you_'. He'd fielded some questions from all three of his colleagues and they'd bought his not-quite truthful answers, but he knew that his luck would run out sooner or later.

Things finally came to a head when he entered the squad room one afternoon after a pre-night-shift coffee with Meredeth. The Bodega Stalker case was still the priority, as he'd lain low for six days, and they were running short of time before the feds were going to step in. The quartet as well as Lanie stood around the murder board, tried desperately to figure out what Finch, Satipo and Weaver had in common that would make them targets.

'Maybe we're looking at another Redding Prep,' Castle suggested, yawning hugely. 'Friends covering for friends so they can't get screwed over.'

'Except Leia Finch was a regular customer because she worked in the neighbourhood. She lived on the Lower East Side, where most of her friends were,' Beckett replied as she studied each victim's profile.

'What if she overheard something going down between Brandon and Fredo?' Ryan chipped in. 'Fredo kills her, then Brandon kills Fredo and offs himself to make it look like we've got a stalker.'

'Fredo is allibied solid for Leia's murder. He was assisting in evening mass at Santa Maria on West Ninety-Seventh, leading hymns in the choir with his sister-in-law.'

'What if we're looking at it from the wrong angle? What if one of the men was the target and Leia was taken out because of some unknown connection? Maybe she was seeing one of them, or both and someone found out, didn't like it.'

Lanie slid her gaze to Esposito, tried not to smile. She was still the only one who knew about Meredeth, but held her tongue with some difficulty as Castle turned his 'c'mon bro' expression on Esposito.

'Since when are you an expert on love affairs?'

'It is worth a look,' Beckett suggested. 'If she'd been seeing Fredo or Brandon, someone might get jealous that he picked an outside from the neighbourhood.'

Esposito nodded along, distracted by the buzzing cell phone in his pocket. He pulled it out, gave a quick glance at the screen. _Incoming text: Mere C_, it read. He pressed the button to read it and felt the grin spread on his face. '_On my way to an early show review, with my very own big bucket of popcorn._ xx M.' He gave a little laugh, stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

'Something funny, Detective?'

He looked up, saw Beckett drilling him with a severe stare. He cleared his throat, crossed his arms. 'No, ma'am, just a personal call. It can wait.'

Lanie bit her lip; she knew precisely who the personal call was from and thought it adorable that after he'd given Ryan such shit about Honey-Milk calling him, he was now doing almost the exact same thing. 'I can also confirm for you Spider-man poison was used and when mixed and dosed right, like this guy or gal did, it's very effective and very clean. The trick is getting the right mix so you don't send them on a daffy trip or knock them unconscious but still keep them breathing. Whoever did this knows what he or she is doing, so taking a look at any similar cases is going to be time consuming but necessary. Our killer has had practice, which means he or she has likely got a sheet of some kind.'

'Alright. Castle, you and Ryan take the backlog on possible similar cases, see if anything pops. Esposito, you're with me, we'll stop in at the bodega, re-canvass the neighbourhood.'

'Yeah, I'll meet you downstairs.' Without waiting for any of them, Esposito took off, praying no one would catch up to him and pry; in the privacy of the elevator he texted Meredeth back: '_You'd hold that poor popcorn hostage even if I was there. xx J._'

Back at the murder board, the remaining three stared at the little puff of dust Esposito had left behind in his hasty retreat.

'What is up with him lately?' Beckett pondered as she gathered her things. 'His phone has been going off all the time. That's not like him.'

'You don't think he's still sore about the whole Rachel gaff do you?'

'Oh get over it, Castle.'

Ryan gnawed at his lower lip. 'Maybe something's up with his sister's husband. He's still in Iraq and he's been taking a lot of personal calls on work time lately.'

This time, Lanie couldn't stop the snorting laugh from escaping. 'A room full of detectives, trained investigators of the law, and you can't sniff out what's going on with him?'

Three heads swiveled in her direction as she packed her medical files into her leather satchel. 'You know something?' Ryan asked, uncomfortable with the idea that Esposito had share juice with Lanie instead of him first.

'I'm just very disappointed in all of you, especially Castle.'

Castle narrowed his eyes at the petite ME, annoyed by her mocking. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'If you can stand there and tell me you don't notice the difference between doughnut jelly and women's lip gloss, you're not the die-hard ladies man I took you for.'

'What are you...' Castle trailed off, thought back to the night when Esposito had shown up late to the morgue. The detective, he now remembered, had a shiny red smudge on his lip Castle had mistaken for pastry remnants. Since Esposito had said nothing about it, he'd assumed he was right. Sitting on the edge of the desk, he dragged a hand over his face, feeling like a total ass-hat. He prided himself on being able to read people, and this one had blown right past him. 'I don't believe it. He was with a woman. How could I have missed that?'

'Because you're so self-centred in your relationship and stuck on the Rachel mistake you barely noticed that he's been spending every free moment he has with this new girlfriend.'

Ryan shifted on his feet. 'Her name isn't Meredeth, by any chance?'

'Yeah, it is. Why?'

'Damn.' Ryan remembered the conversation he'd had with his partner the morning after the Rachel debacle. He assumed since Esposito hadn't mentioned Meredeth again, things had fizzled. Then again, he had called the girl crazy. Not the best way to get your bro to confide in your about his new lady, was it? 'He told me he was taking her on a date. I didn't think it was any big thing.'

'Apparantly it is. You got anything to add, Beckett?'

'He'll tell us when he wants to, so perhaps we can save the Gossip Girl moments until poker tomorrow night. Meanwhile, we've got murder to work, so let's move.'

Lanie smiled, hoisted her bag to her shoulder, ready to get one last little jab in. She knew Esposito would be a little cranky she coughed up a name, but Castle really needed something to get his mind of the Rachel thing he was blaming himself for. 'Oh, by the way, her last is Coleman.'

'Meredeth...Coleman? _The_ Meredeth Coleman?' Castle sat ramrod straight on the desk at the mention of the name. 'Meredeth Coleman is hooking up with our Esposito?'

Lanie nodded, whisked herself off to the elevator with a sunny 'Toodles!', leaving Castle to stew.

'Javier Esposito landed the unicorn that is Meredeth Coleman.'

Beckett rolled her eyes as she tugged on her jacket. 'That supposed to mean something?'

'Meredeth Coleman is one of the most popular graphic novelists and film critics of the country, and she is known for being notoriously single, like Al Pacino. Looks like those late night interviews in a couple weeks won't just be about her book.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	10. Play Time

_Hello everyone! This is a shorter chapter because I decided to split a 2000+ chapter into two so this and chapter 11 were originally one whole chapter._

* * *

'Get him, no, not him, him!'

'Ha, ha, you're no match, baby girl!'

'No, you stupid motherfucker, I said grenade, not rifle!'

Esposito had to laugh at Meredeth's vicious swearing. After he'd finished his shift, during which time he'd been bombarded with calls by Castle and Ryan wanting to know why he hadn't told them about his girlfriend, Esposito had taken his bag from his locker and hopped the train to Yorkville instead of his own city block. It was his first day off in almost three weeks, and he was planning on spending it with his girlfriend on one of her flex-days, as she called them. She'd greeted him at her door with a warm kiss, the kind that made him block out the rest of the world, and the tantalizing offer of chocolate oatmeal muffins and the latest copy of _Halo Wars_. It certainly beat cold pizza and a rerun of _Deadliest Catch_ alone in his apartment, and had the added bonus of seeing Meredeth in her comfies, as she called them - pale green scrub pants and a skimpy grey tank top that made him thank God for her figure.

Now, an hour after they'd sat down with the game, Esposito felt the last remains of the day's paperwork drudgery drift away as he listened to Meredeth's rants at the animated game characters. She was by no means an expert player but her enthusiasm was entertainment enough for him. With a few clever keystrokes, he sneaked up behind her sergeant and blew its head off, signaling she was out of extra lives. Pouting only a little, Meredeth tossed her controller to the table.

'You suck.'

'No, sweetcheeks, that'd be you. Pay up.'

'Alright, what do you want?'

Esposito gave her a toothy grin, rubbed the back of his neck. 'Well, I've been staring at a computer screen for most of the day, and my shoulders are a little tense.'

'Typical male.' Meredeth playfully rolled her eyes; she could be called many things but a sore loser wasn't one. She gave him, her couch, a considering look. 'Okay, come on.'

She took his hand to pull him to his feet and led him into her room. The minute he was inside, and she closed the door, Meredeth let out a shuddering breath. She knew there was no reason to be nervous with him in her room and yet...well, he was a guy, after all, he was bound to think certain things, right? Hoping her hands wouldn't shake, she went to her bedside table. 'Strip down.'

Obliging her, Esposito looked around the room as he pulled off his shirt, then pants. The walls were slate blue, the east dominated by a large window, and her bed was the size of a lake - an old-fashioned brass headboard overlooked the queen size mattress covered in Egyptian cotton of soft midnight blue. On the bedside table was an old-fashioned Tiffany lamp with pale blue and yellow stars in random patterns. He flopped face first onto the sheets, ready to pass out on the spot.

'Hope you don't mind, I...' His words died off as she began to work some sweetly scented lotion into his aching back. 'Oh, sweet singing Jesus. Oh that's almost better than sex.'

Her hands were like magic, soft of texture but sure of purpose as they worked and kneaded into his skin. Esposito let his brain drift, thought about how else she might use those clever hands and felt his body respond as he fleetingly imagined her all dolled up like one of Lady Irina's girls, then on some remote tropical beach in a skimpy string bikini, sipping rum drinks and bronzing in the sun. He could have sworn he even smelled the suntan lotion.

He lifted his head, sniffed. 'What is that stuff you're using? It smells like the beach.'

'It's extra virgin coconut oil. Good for baking pastries, softening skin, and...' she leaned in closer, just to really drive home her words 'other erotic activities.'

'You are trying to kill me, aren't you?'

Meredeth laughed, continued the task at hand. 'Why? You thinking naughty thoughts?'

'Can't help it.' He twisted, grabbed her wrists and pulled her down beside him, making her laugh as he began to nuzzle at her throat. The laugh turned to a satisfied hum as he pressed his lips to her throat, breathed deep the scent of her skin. 'You're wearing a top like that and using that fancy oil on me, a man's bound to think triple-x things.'

'Well...' Meredeth trailed off as she kissed him, felt the solid weight of him press her into the bed. He wasn't tall but he sure was built; she ran her hands over the impossible tone of his arms, his shoulders as she felt the hard evidence of his arousal press against her. 'I certainly can feel that.'

'As much fun as that would be, I really do want to sleep.' He didn't want to admit it out loud, but despite the unintentional arousal she'd stirred in him with the massage, he was exhausted from the long day's work. He could no more have made love to his girlfriend than win a wrestling match with a grizzly bear, even if she'd stripped naked and drenched herself in chocolate sauce.

Esposito reached up to adjust the pillow under his head and was down for the count before Meredeth could turn off the lamp.

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	11. Undone

He awoke some time later to a low keening sound. Blinking, trying to adjust to his surrounding, he remembered he wasn't at home but at Meredeth's. At first he thought the sound might have been Arturo, but he remembered Arturo was asleep in Meredeth's office. The sound was coming from Meredeth herself. He propped himself on his elbows, gingerly reached out to feel the outline of her body when he heard it again, the frightened whimper from her as she slept; this time she began to kick in her sleep, like she was lashing out at someone or something. He nearly rolled over and went back to sleep when he heard her whimper, only this time, she was speaking words.

'No, no don't. Get away from me. Get off me.'

Esposito's blood went cold as she began to thrash, her voice getting stronger. Acting on instinct, he flipped on his bedside lamp, grabbed her shoulder to shake her awake.

'Mere, come on wake up.'

'No. No!'

She sat up like a bullet coming out of a gun, legs flailing about as she scrubbed her palms over her arms and shrieked, 'Get them off! Get them off me!'

'Mere, it's okay! It's Javi, it's okay.' He grabbed her shoulders, pushed her hair out of her face and felt his throat slam shut as he saw the stains of tears on her cheeks. 'It's okay,' he repeated, gathering her close. She tried to fight him off but he held on tightly, relief overwhelming him as she wrapped her arms around him and tried to steady her voice.

'I couldn't-they were-they were everywhere.'

'What were?'

'Spiders.'

'Spiders?'

Meredeth nodded. 'Could you get me a glass of water?' She knew she'd scared him, badly, and figured the task would give him a moment to collect his wits.

'Of course.' He went to the kitchen, rattled to the core at what he'd seen her fighting in her sleep. When he went back to her room, she'd sat up, wrapped the bed sheet around her like a cape. Without a word, he gave her her drink, brushed a lock of loose hair off her face as he sat back down beside her.

She polished off the water in a single chugging gulp, set the glass beside her Tiffany lamp. 'Thanks.'

'What the blue fuck was that, Mere? You scared the crap outta me.'

Meredeth smiled weakly. She'd prayed she wouldn't have an episode while he was staying over, but she was thankful he'd been there to hold onto when she'd awoken from her nightmare. 'My mother was a nurse in the Gulf War.'

'Really.' Esposito had no idea where she was headed with this non-sequiter but he figured being a writer, she would wind back to the point. He kept his eyes on her face, his gut clenching as she delicately wiped away tears.

'Yeah. She was in the Air Force Nurse Corps. Second Lieutenant Freja Dakkars Coleman. Her helicopter was shot down over Yemen in January of ninety-one. I'd just turned eleven the November before.' She remembered the way her grandmother had gently sat her down, told her her mother died a hero. 'I'd been living with my grandmother, but my mother had named her sister as my legal guardian. So I went to live with her, and my uncle, and my cousin Colby. Colby was fourteen, and to call him a sociopathic little bastard is being nice.'

Meredeth pulled her fingers through her hair as the memories crept in. 'He was fine enough when my aunt was around, but when she wasn't...he was the nastiest little shit you ever met.'

'I take it the nightmares have something to do with this?'

'He had a pet tarantula he called Baby, and I was already terrified of spiders. He thought at first I was just being a girl but when he started seeing how scared I would get, he turned really mean. He started letting it out of its terrarium and putting it in places he knew I'd be. The first time, I was in the shower and when I pulled back the curtain, he'd left Baby on top of my towel on the sink. I screamed my head off until he moved the damn thing. Another time, he put it in my sock drawer. I started losing sleep, but my aunt figured I was just grieving, told me it was natural enough to be frightened and scared. Then came April Fool's Day.'

She looked so young, Esposito thought, as she relived this hell. He didn't realize he'd reached out to hold her hand until he felt her squeezing his fingers tightly.

'My aunt had gone out to do some shopping, and Colby told me she'd called looking for one of her credit cards in my uncle's jacket, could I get it since he was on the phone with her. I was still naive enough to believe he was just a bully. I went into the closet, and when I went in, he shoved me in and put Baby in on the floor with me and locked me in the closet.'

'Oh Mere.' Twin vines of sympathy for the little girl and rage at the boy who should have known better twisted inside Esposito's chest.

'I was too scared to yell or even move. I must have blacked out, because the next thing I remember I woke up in the hospital. Needless to say, I went back to living with my grandmother, and my nightmares turned into night terrors. Every night I was back in that closet, only instead of it being one tarantula, it was thousands of little ones crawling all over me.'

'How often do you get them?'

'Now, it's only when I'm stressed.'

Esposito said nothing for a moment as a question burned in his mind: was it him? Was he putting too much pressure on her and scaring her off without even realizing it?

'It's not you, or us,' Mere said reassuringly, reading him perfectly. 'My grandmother is moving to her winter place in Florida, and I'm going to be moving to her place in Murray Hill at the end of November. It's been taking a bit of a toll on me.'

A wave of shame washed through her as she sighed, tears threatening to spring out again. 'I'm so embarrassed. This probably isn't what you expected our first night together.'

'Well there was a little screaming involved,' he joked, glad she was enough herself that she punched him in the shoulder. 'You think you can get some sleep?'

'I'll try.'

She laid back down on the bed, shoulders hunched tightly until she felt Esposito's hand on her back, rubbing in soothing circular strokes. It was so comforting, so sweet; she turned to him, kissed him lightly. 'I could use a hug.'

He held her tightly, brushed a gentle hand over her hair as her breathing began to slow into sleep. 'I'm right here,' he murmured. 'I won't let anything happen to you.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	12. Splish Splash Click Click

The next day was, in Meredeth's mind, as close to perfection as was possible to get. When she'd awoken, she'd found that her rough-and-tumble cop was a cuddly-sleeper which amused her to no end; he'd slept, it seemed, with his arm around her waist the entire night. They'd shared breakfast and Meredeth had taken him through her hour of dance-cardio. Esposito had started to laugh at the idea she used the twenty-first century version of Jane Fonda tapes but he'd stopped laughing when he found himself struggling to keep up while Meredeth went through it like a champ, giving him another reason to be impressed. Despite her plump physique, she was in good physical shape, making him feel unexpectedly protective of her. He slumped onto her couch to catch his breath as she shoved the coffee table back in place.

'Holy crap, Mere, that little blond is the devil.'

'She whips my ass four times a week.'

'Four times a week?'

'I sit for long periods writing, so I need to do it to keep up my endurance.' Mere drank water, patted her face with the edge of her shirt; the lifted cotton revealed to Esposito the tip of a surgical scar. peaking out from her shorts. 'You want the shower first, or is it ladies first?'

'We could share one. It's economical, time-saving and sexy all at once. A triple threat.'

Mere smiled. 'How can I argue with logic like that?' So saying, she stripped off her shirt in the living room, stepped out of her shorts on her way down the hall.

By the time Esposito had rolled up his tongue and followed her into the narrow bathroom, she'd already turned on the water, stepped in. It was the first time he'd be naked with her, he realized as he pulled the curtain aside. Joining her under the water, he took her in - she was just as magnificent in person as she'd been in his fantasy. Soft skin with freckles dotted here and there including one very naughtily placed near the center of her left breast. The surgical scar was long and thin on a diagonal over her right hip just above, he noted, a tattoo of blue numbers. The fact she sported secret ink made his mouth water. She'd already lathered some creamy soap into her hands and was rubbing it into her skin in an efficient way, into both shoulders, over the breasts, down the stomach to her scar. He reached behind her to the shampoo on the shelf, squeezed it into his hand.

'Wanna do my back?'

'Only you,' she murmured, obligingly sliding her soap-slicked hands over his shoulders. He was built like a brick wall, that golden caramel skin covering a taught, disciplined body. It made her feel fleshy and fat by comparison. He had no little lip below his navel that always pouted over the top of his underwear like she did, or scars like her souvenir from a burst appendix. Before she could let it get the better of her, he turned around, and running his head under the water to clean away shampoo, he bent his head to kiss her. The taste of him combined with the warm water had her defenses weakening and she felt her body respond as he pulled her close.

Esposito could have spent all day with her in the shower like that; she was lush and lovely despite the hesitation he sensed in her. His spidey-senses told him she wasn't used to being treated like this, like she was just as sexy and desirable as the stick-figures with silicone breasts in magazines. Well, he'd have to change her mind on that count, he mused as he slid his hands down her ribcage, up to cup her breasts, those beautiful swells that had made saliva pool in his mouth since she'd so kindly displayed them in that tight black shirt at the movies.

'You're so stacked,' he told her, pleased her reaction was a small satisfied groan.

'You're not so bad yourself.' But she leaned away from him as she said it. She had to look him in the eye as she spoke her mind. 'Does it bother you?'

'What?'

'That we've been together a few weeks now, and there hasn't been a lot of...you know, _skede_ time?'

Esposito sighed; he'd wished he was wrong about that timidness. 'When I'm serious about someone, I don't rush it. I figure it'll happen when it happens. Doesn't mean I don't think you're hot because you are, but I've had things blow up on me in the past because of rushing face-first into sex. No pun intended,' he added, realizing how dirty that last bit was, 'and the last thing I want to do is scare you off. I do have one question though.'

'Okay then

'What is _skede_ exactly?'

'It's Danish for...the P-word.'

Esposito wrinkled his nose. He'd never liked that word, it sounded so cheap. 'Sounds better in Danish.'

She laughed, then turned around. 'You can do my back now.'

By the time they finished, Arturo was ready for a walk, so Meredeth suggested they head over to the near-by park. She'd brought her camera along, stopping when Arturo stopped to photograph various skylines or stores fronts. By the time they reached the park, he'd opened and shut his mouth a dozen times to ask her what she was doing.

'It's for the new _Lady Hawk_,' she explained off of Esposito's confused look as she threw Arturo's favourite tennis ball for him. 'I photograph different spots and Kristof will take, say, four or five different pieces and sketch them into part of our fictional setting. Having them based off of real places gives them a certain mood. Speaking of which, exactly how do you know Richard Castle? I've been wanting to interview him for ages but I never had a shot at it with that Nazi of an agent he's got now.'

'He shadows my boss. You read _Naked Heat_?'

'Oh yeah. Page one-oh-five? I needed a cold shower after that one.'

'She wanted to beat his ass over that one but good.'

Meredeth watched him crouch to pick up Arturo's ball, which Arturo had politely spat at his feet. He made kissy noises at the dog as though he were a cooing baby, then whipped the ball like a starting pitcher aiming for the strike zone. His face was flush with joy and when he smiled at her, she felt her insides leap like frogs. Inspired, she took the camera out again and passed it to a blond woman watching a Pomeranian chase after a Frisbee as big as it was. 'Excuse me.'

'Yes?'

'Can you take a picture of me and my boyfriend?'

'Oh sure!' The blond woman took the camera he offered, sighed with envy as he pulled the bubbly brunette over, wrapped his arms around her. She took a few in rapid succession, included the bruiser of a dog when he wandered back. 'There you go.'

'Thanks.'

'Why do you want pictures?'

'I'm going on a couple of talk shows next week for my new book and I want to take a few pictures of you and Artie to show off. That cool with you?'

'You're going on a couple of talk shows?'

'Yeah, I was going to tell you, but we got...distracted,' she said at length, blushing a little as she remembered the little shower massage they'd shared. 'I have to fly out to Los Angeles next Sunday.'

When Esposito said nothing, just flipped through the camera card's photo album, she swallowed deeply. 'It wasn't a secret or anything, I just hadn't told you yet, so-'

'Mere, slow down. It's fine, I'm just trying to decide between the second one or the fifth one. I like the lighting better in the second one, but the fifth one doesn't make my ears look too goofy.' He turned the camera around to show her, grinning. His girlfriend was going to be on national TV. That was too cool for words. 'Which one do you like and which late show host will see it?'

'You're going Hollywood on me, Javi. It's the two Jimmies - Fallon and Kimmel, on Monday and Tuesday, and then Craig Ferguson on Thursday.'

'Just promise me one thing, okay?'

Since his voice had gone serious, Meredeth cleared her throat. 'What's that?'

'You have to get me a picture of Craig and his shark puppet.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	13. Overruled

'Would you stop it?'

'What?'

'Wiggling your leg like that, it's shaking the whole damn table.'

'Sorry.' Esposito shifted in his conference room chair, crossed his ankle over his knee. He hadn't realized how much he was going to miss Meredeth until he'd dropped her off at the airport the day before. He'd borrowed Ryan's ride to take her, bore up under Jenny's bombardment of questions about her with what he considered admirable patience, and had been miserably cranky ever since he'd seen her go through the gate. Even the intrigue of the Bodega Stalker case couldn't keep his mind off the fact if he went home and his TiVo had fucked him over by not recording Meredeth's interview, he would have to take it into the 12th's firing range for target practice.

Ryan noticed it too; it was impossible not to. 'What's the matter with you? You and Mystery Meredeth have a fight?'

'No, no, nothing like that, and stop calling her Mystery Meredeth.'

'Oh come on, man!' Now Ryan wasn't just annoyed, he was veering into seriously-pissed-off territory. 'It's alright for my escapades to be an open book but yours are matters of national security?'

'Maybe if you learned they call it a private life for a reason, Ry, you wouldn't get teased so much.'

'Besides the point.' Ryan nudged away the files, glad he had the opportunity to speak his mind. 'We're partners man, and dammit, I thought we were friends. It's not like I'm going to run my mouth off, I just figured I was privy to details besides Lanie's tidbits.'

Esposito leaned back from the table, uncomfortable with the hurt in Ryan's voice. He'd never done it intentionally, he'd simply wanted to keep something for himself; was that a crime? 'We are friends, Kev,' he said, using Ryan's first name so as to get his point across, 'but this is different. She's different.'

Before Ryan could respond Esposito's cell blip-blipped a monophonic version of the Beach Boys' _Good Vibrations_, the ringtone he'd assigned for Meredeth's cell number. Looking at the screen, he pressed his lips together to keep the smile to himself and to help keep the nerves to himself as well.

_Just about to go on Kimmel. Wearing a hot dress, you'll really miss me when you see it. xx M._

He forgot about the file in front of him momentarily as he texted her back: _At work, praying my TiVo works, still missin' you in or out of a dress. xx J._ Clearing his throat, he set his cell back down, turned his attention back to cop work. It was only when he saw Ryan staring in blank anticipation that he said anything.

'What?'

'That her?'

'Yeah, she's in L.A. for work.'

Ryan only shook his head in disbelief. The man really had no clue, did he, just how obvious it was when he got a text or a call from Meredeth; the cop disintegrated however momentarily and he was simply Javi. When he hung up, Detective Esposito was back in full force, and it made Ryan ready to grab him by his striped tie and feed it into the nearest paper shredder . Instead he stood up, stretched stiff arms and back, then twisted back when Esposito added, almost like an after thought, 'She's doing a couple of late-night shows to promote her book.'

'No shit? Like on Letterman and that?'

'Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Craig Ferguson.'

Ryan's eyes nearly popped out of his head as Castle and Beckett strolled in, each with two cups of coffee in hand. 'You're serious?'

'Serious about what?' Castle passed Ryan one of the coffees.

'Mere's doing Kimmel and Fallon and Ferguson this week!'

Kate shook her head, sipped her coffee. Her boys were dedicated to their jobs but when it came to TV, they were worse than teenage Trekkies. 'Yeah, I know, I read it on her Twitter. I keep up with authors,' she added off of Castle's amused look.

'Well you are one of the Richard Castle Official Website Subscribers, aren't you CastleGirl412?'

'That's not my screen-name.'

'Dammit.' Castle sulked; she'd yet to give up that little secret and insisted on teasing him with it any chance she got.

Ryan waved his hands back and forth in front of his face to get their attention. 'Way off topic. Point is, Mys...Meredeth,' he corrected himself off of Esposito's warning glare, 'is going on national television three times this week and we have to be able to tell her we watched.'

'Truth be told, she only cares about the Ferguson interview.' Esposito looked up, surprised he'd spoken at all. 'She's been a fan of his for awhile and promised me she'd get a pic with Brian the Shark. And when do you think you're going to see her and tell her this?'

'Saturday night, after she gets back from L.A.,' Castle said without a nanosecond of hesitation. He held up his index finger to silence a protest from Esposito. 'Ryan's right man. We know you like your space and all, but we're your friends and we do want to meet her.'

'So does Jenny, mind if she tags in?' Ryan added, turning to Castle who nodded in agreement.

'I'll let Lanie and Montgomery know poker night's been moved this week.'

'If we're done adjusting our social calendars, perhaps we could get back to working murder, if that's all right with you guys.' Beckett looked around at her detectives and her shadow-boyfriend, lips pursed in irritation. 'We got a possible outside connection on the vics. We pulled electronics and we found all three subscribed to the same online chat-room 'Book-Bites'. Ryan, Esposito, head over to IT and get the hard copies, go through all their back log of conversations and emails from the site, see if we get anything.'

On their way down in the elevator, Esposito discreetly pulled out his phone, texted Meredeth a second time. _Castle's invited you to poker night Saturday. Brace yourself. xx J._ He'd barely pushed 'send' when Ryan leaned over.

'Checking in already? That's twice in one hour, bro.'

'Shut it,' Esposito mumbled good-naturedly, feeling a burning sensation on the back of his neck as Ryan leaned against the elevator wall, hands in his pockets and snickered.

'This is going to be so much fun.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	14. Payback

_Hello faithful readers, where-ever you are! So this super-sized __chappie __(2227 words!) is a slight cross-over of sorts, as Mere does an interview on TV on a real talk show; the parts of the interview are in italics. Once again, i own nothing except the characters I create!_

* * *

When Esposito got home, all he wanted was a cold drink and his hot Meredeth. But since she was still in California, he'd settle for her interview on _The Late Late Show_. He was supposed to be at work, but since it was dead as Dillinger and he'd put in overtime with Meredeth away for work, the captain had cut him loose at eleven, only six hours into his ten. He wandered into his kitchen to examine the contents of his refrigerator - a carton of orange juice, a lonely Coke, leftover Chinese and some questionable bananas.

'Takeout it is,' he muttered. He drank the orange juice straight from the carton; as he screwed the cap back on he looked at the park pictures Meredeth had put there. He laughed at himself as he looked at his favourite one, the same one she would show off on only Craig's show for some reason.

He flipped on the TV, fiddled with the controls on his TiVo when he heard a knock at the door. Furrowing his brow, he thought of who'd stop in at nearly half-past midnight. Meredeth was obviously out as she was in L.A. and had his emergency key; she wouldn't have knocked. Beckett and Castle were on the town at some fancy event, Lanie was on nights and Ryan was home with Honey-Milk. His sister, he figured, needing a late night chat and reassurance her husband would make it home safely from Iraq.

He pulled open the door, felt his jaw drop open. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

'We come from East Eighty-Fourth bearing pizza and beverages,' Ryan said with a grin broad as the Hudson. He strolled in, three boxes in hand, Beckett and Castle and Lanie behind him. 'Even got you the all-veggie whole-grain health crap you like, if you can call that pizza.'

'I don't, which is why we got the loaded one, and a plain cheese for Miss Tender Tummy here,' Castle added, jerking his head towards Beckett, who rolled her eyes as she hoisted a white plastic grocery bag onto the small kitchen table. She pulled out two bottles of cranberry juice, a third of something pink and fizzing.

'I like my pizza like my murder cases. Simple with nothing mucking it up. Glasses are where?'

Lanie pulled open a random cupboard door. 'Found 'em.'

'What are you doing here?' Esposito repeated, staring at the quartet now occupying his apartment. 'Don't you all have plans?'

'Yeah, and you figured we'd pass up the chance to make you turn red as that juice?' Lanie unscrewed the caps, began pouring. 'You want cranberry or fizzy grapefruit?'

Still reeling, Esposito pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. 'Guys, I've had a long week, come on.'

'Aw, he wants alone time with his beauty on the TV screen,' Ryan snickered, using a spatula to lift slices onto plates Lanie had located. 'Not tonight, bro. You thought you could pull a fast one and leave us out of the loop, and now you must pay.'

Resigned, Esposito flipped the lid on his 'health crap' pizza as Castle so kindly put it and put two slices on his plate. By the time he'd done so, Lanie and Beckett had already parked themselves on his couch while Ryan had ensconced himself in the overstuffed armchair and Castle was on the ground by Beckett's feet. He squished himself in at the end of the couch, balanced his plate on his knee as the opening credits of _The Late Late Show_ rolled, heart hiccuping in his chest at Meredeth's face on the 'tonight's guests' screen. By the time the monologue and emails were over, Esposito had barely touched his food and was aching desperately for something stronger than the grapefruit shit the girls had brought. He'd put his plate back with the boxes on the table when the show came back from his commercial and the eel that seemed to have awoken in his belly was slithering full force. Finally, finally, the excruciating wait was over and Meredeth's introduction was made.

'Here she comes,' Lanie said in a singsong voice, wiggling a little in place.

_'My first guest tonight is a very sexy lady who also has a masters degree in film history. Eat your heart out Brooke Shields. She writes for Critical Condition, and writes graphic novels and has just put out her first collection of short stories. Please welcome the effervescent Meredeth Coleman everyone!'_

In Esposito's living room, everyone focused with deadly intensity on the screen as Meredeth walked on screen in a sassy red top, black pants and high heels. Her hair was styled in a flirty flip and she'd done that thing again with her mouth, Esposito noted, that made it look lush and sexy. He felt the ache on his own lips as he pressed them together to ward off the phantom feeling of kissing her; it was quickly replaced with the desire to punch Castle and Ryan as they whistled appreciatively.

'That's what you kick out of bed in the morning, Esposito?'

'No wonder you were late to the morgue that night.'

Esposito felt his colour rise as he tried to sink into the couch. 'Is this going to go on much longer?'

'Yeah,' they chorused, clinking together glasses, their attention never leaving the screen.

_'Hello my dear it's lovely to see you, how are you, because I know you've been a busy girl since you've been here.'_

_'I know, this is my third interview in four days, and somehow, I managed to sneak in a day-trip to San Francisco in there too.'_

_'From Los Angeles?'_

_'Yeah, my girlfriend, Chin, her name's actually Natalia Fedochinski but she goes by Chin, picked me up right after I was done interviewing on Tuesday, so like around five, and we drove up the coast with the gorgeous sunset to San Fran, and we spent the next day visiting another friend who lives on a houseboat up there. We packed like a picnic-shore lunch and anchored out by the bridge and spent the day catching up and drinking wine in the sun and having a great time.'_

She smiled at the audience in that big flashy way she had; something in Esposito's stomach loosened as he watched her. Even when she had her professional-writer skin on, she was still bubbly as a bottle of champagne. Then he felt his nerves sizzle as she continued, _'I took this photo while I was there, for my boyfriend, he's a big 'Shark Week' fan.'_

A photo flashed on screen again, but Esposito didn't really have enough brain power to focus, as the others in the room started wolf-whistling and cheering.

'That's it man, Esposito's officially off the market, ladies take your Puerto-Rican loving panties and go home.' Ryan clapped his hands as he grinned at his friend's red face.

'Are you done?'

'Not even close.'

'Shush, I wanna hear her gush s'more.' Lanie leaned forward in anticipation. 'Maybe he'll turn fuchsia.'

_'So the rumours are true then, you're no longer our quintessential single lady?'_

_'They are true. I've been seeing him, hi Javi-' _she gave a little wave at the camera, which made Esposito grin before he could help himself, fold his arms around his chest_ '-for about a month-ish now, where, yes there's the picture.'_

This time it was the two women who got their digs in.

'I didn't know you were so photogenic, Esposito. Maybe you should have tried modeling too,' Beckett commented, hiding her smirk with a sip of her drink.

'_What does the Shark Week fan do the rest of the year?'_

_'He's a detective with the NPYD, and he actually works in the...oh, woo! My pocket's buzzing!'_

_'Hey now this is still on network, it's not like HBO.'_

_'No, actually, I knew this would happen, just not at what point. It's himself, he's sent me a text.'_

All four pairs of eyes turned away momentarily from the screen to stare at Esposito, who shifted uncomfortably.

'You texted her during her interview?'

'Maybe.'

_'What's that message say from Detective Interrupter?'_

_'It says, 'hey sweets, don't forget to ask about Brian the Shark. xx J.'_

_'Oh how adorable, let me text him back for you.'  
_

Once again, all eyes in the room turned on Esposito, who was now almost as purple as the armchair Ryan sat in.

'You sign your texts to her with two little x's?' Ryan said, barely able to hold in his glee. He had his home-boy now, there would be no more Mr. Honey-Milk, not after this.

'Does she sign back with two little o's?' Castle added, bro-dapping knuckles with Ryan.

'I'll give you two little o's in about five seconds if you don't watch your mouth.'

'But wouldn't Meredeth get jealous?' Lanie zipped off, earning her own knuckle-bump from Beckett.

Between being so proud that Craig Ferguson had sent him a text via Meredeth, frustrated at missing her in the flesh and slimy that his friends had resorted to this level of torture, the only response Esposito could manage was, 'Screw you all.'

At the end of the show, he'd ushered them out the door, keeping all three boxes of pizza as spoils of the war he'd just endured. He went into his room, stripped down to his boxers and set his alarm for seven in the morning. As he drifted off, he rolled over and wrinkled his nose that Meredeth's side of his bed didn't smell like her, the heady combination of her perfume and cucumber soap. The last thought that passed through his mind before fatigue overtook him was, _come home soon. I miss you_.

The first sensation he had when he awoke to his alarm was something soft but firm tucked under his arm. Still in the haze between sleep and wakefulness, Esposito inhaled sharply- and felt his senses go on alert as the perfume-and-cucumber scent hit his nose. Blinking slowly, he cleared the sleep from his eyes, and saw Meredeth watching his face with tired, heavy eyes.

'Good morning snooze-a-roo.'

'You're home.'

'Surprise.' Her voice was soft, heavy with fatigue herself as she pressed her palm to his cheek. 'I managed to get an earlier flight, came here since it's closer to the airport.'

He pulled her tight into his arms, kissed her in a way that let her know how happy it made him she was back. She was no dream; it was his Meredeth. 'I missed you.'

'I know, same here.'

'Did you really drive to San Francisco?'

'We really did.' Meredeth bit her lip, remembering how she'd been watching the sunset and thinking that the only thing that made the moment imperfect was that her Javi was on the other side of the country. 'Do you mind if I sleep here? I'm still adjusting to Eastern Standard.'

'Go for it. There's leftover pizza in the fridge if you're hungry, too.' He got up, not an easy task as he hadn't seen her in nearly a week, but he still had to go into work. When he came back from the shower fifteen minutes later, he saw she had already begun to drift off. By the time he was dressed for work, badge on his belt and weapon holstered at his side, Meredeth was passed out cold on her back, no hint of her night terrors anywhere in sight. Just calm, steady breathing occasionally interrupted by a gurgling sniff. He tugged the grey and purple blanket his grandmother had knitted for him up to her shoulders, kissed her cheek

'Sleep tight, Mere.'

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy_.


	15. Throwdown

_Hello faithful readers, I am updating this one very quickly because I am leaving later today to go on vacay for a week so I want to leave you with something very fun while I'm away.

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_

'Are you sure you don't want her to bring anything, Castle? She's a really good baker, she makes these things called Nanaimo bars, they are unbelievable.'

'Esposito, I'm sure. We've got more than enough food here.'

'What about a bottle of wine? Mere usually drinks red, but-'

'Stop stalling, pick your girlfriend up and get over here.' Esposito hung up his phone as he climbed the stairs to Meredeth's apartment. It was Saturday, the day of the poker game/meet-the-Meredeth party that he'd originally booked off when he thought Meredeth was getting back from L.A. on the Friday night. He knew there was no risk of Arturo pouncing on him at the door tonight, as Meredeth had arranged for him to stay an extra night with her grandmother while she got back into her New York groove.

He stopped outside Meredeth's door, grinned as he stood there and listened. Coming from inside her apartment was some very enthusiastic, if off-key, singing. Since she'd unlocked the door for him, he let himself in, stood in the kitchen and watched her.

She was lost in her own little world, grooving out to the music and not just any music, but 'The Hamster Dance', the tackiest song ever to grace the airwaves. She was barefoot, in black sweats and a grey Old Navy shirt with orange letters. The way her breasts swayed under the shirt told him she wasn't wearing a bra, making his mouth water. She looked so damn hot as she shook her hips and twisted with the music, swinging her hair as she rocked out, and the best part, in his mind, was that she didn't even know it. After a wild head spin, she stopped in her tracks, blushed red as a tomato when she saw him standing in her kitchen.

'Javi, hi! Didn't hear you come in.' She pointed a remote at the stereo and the music lowered several notches. 'I just finished cleaning up, got a little carried away.'

'I see that.' His lips trembled as he tried not to laugh. 'The Hamster Dance?'

'Don't judge me, it's a guilty pleasure. Give me like like half an hour-ish, we'll head over to Castle's okay?'

'In a minute.' He crossed over to her, pulled her tight against him so their bodies pressed up against each other. She smelled a little of household cleaner, but mostly, like Meredeth. That sexy sophisticated smell that completely contradicted the youthful bubbly personality, which itself contradicted the one he'd seen when they first met. She was such a puzzle, and she was all his.

He kissed her, fully and deeply, his tongue tracing an outline of her lips; ; the need to be with her had sprang up and grabbed him by the throat. He felt her unwind in his arms as she kissed him back with just as much heat. Before she could get a grip on things, he pinned her against her apartment door, trapped her wrists in his hands above her head as he toed off his shoes.

'Your room,' he managed with what little brain power he had left.

'Too far. The couch.'

'Too far,' he echod, running kisses up and down her throat, making her hum. 'Here, then.'

She didn't have time to protest; with lightening quick moves, he'd gripped the hem of her shirt and dragged it over her head so she was naked to the waist. Wow, was all he could think as he marveled at the lush full breasts; the curve of them mirrored the curve of her stomach, the bend of her waist into her hips. 'You're so beautiful, Mere,' he murmured as he pressed himself up against her, feeling her skin heat as he slid his hands up her ribcage, letting one rest there while the other snaked its way up further, the palm resting against the underside of her breast.

Meredeth let her head fall back. No one had ever treated her with passionate fascination like this. Before she had much time to become accustomed to his hand on her, the other one slid up to gently squeeze her other breast; her breathy gasp was cut off when his mouth fused hotly to hers. She managed a small frustrated groan when she felt his thumbs scrape over the heated points. With equal impatience, she tugged at his shirt, peeled it off of him before he sank back into the kiss, making little shivers run down her back.

Esposito's blood swam giddy laps in his head as he felt her soft creamy skin beneath his hands. He'd wanted this from their first kiss, he realized, just as much as he wanted to share a meal and conversation with her, smell her soap on his sheets after she slept in his bed. Bed, he thought absently as those long-fingered hands slid over his ass and pulled him tight against her, would be a much better place for their first time, if only he could think beyond the gloriously hot-blooded woman currently wrapped around him.

Somehow, he managed to get them to the slightly more comfortably, if certainly more spacious floor, without any obvious damage. She was underneath him now, one of those long legs hooked over his waist, hands massaging his shoulders. With opened mouth kisses, he trailed from her jaw down her neck to the sweet little valley between her breasts before sliding his tongue across one to nip and suckle. He heard the strangled noise in her throat, felt his own body react to the sound as she hooked the other leg around him to pull him closer. Knowing it would drive her crazy, he moved to the other breast, thrill sliding through his veins like warmed whiskey when she moaned out his name. Was there any better sound in the world?

Meredeth thought she would lose her mind, the way that magic mouth worked on her body, and they hadn't even gotten to the really good stuff yet. Impatience growing, she arched her hips up, tugged at her sweats and kicked them away so she was naked but for her pink and black tiger-striped cotton panties. He realized he was still wearing his own pants; he could feel them growing more and more constricting as his gaze roamed over her body. Absently, he traced a finger over her scar, let his other fingertips join as he moved further south until he hit the edge of her panties. He watched her bit her lip, suck in a breath in anticipation. Her eyes flew open in partt irritation, part surprise as he stopped.

'What are you doing?'

'These were, ah, a little too tight,' he explained as he stripped off his jeans, careful to keep them nearby. He stretched himself on top of her, making her groan a little as she adjusted to the weight of him on top of her. He kissed her neck, nipped at her earlobe with his teeth. 'Where were we,' he murmured, sliding his hand back down her body; there was no hesitation this time when he slid the tiger stripes down her legs, then slid his hand back up into the warm, slick welcome. Now the pace was languid, lazy even, not the frenetic lust that powered him this far in the first place. He watched as the little flickers of pleasure darted into her eyes, reveled in the way her short neat nails bit into his back as her breathing became more and more erratic; he slipped one finger, then two inside that sweet wetness that had her sobbing out his name as he teased and tortured her. The orgasm ripped through her body like a tornado, leaving her fighting for air and him dangerously close to the edge of taking what he wanted without a thought to safety.

'Javier,' she managed, pressing a kiss to his cheek, still holding him close to her body. 'Do you have-'

'Yeah, just give me a second.' With a concentrated effort, he reached for his jeans to fish his wallet out of the back pocket. He'd bought the condoms the same day she'd spent the night, after a quick look through his medicine cabinet told him his others had expired. For a moment he thought he'd forgotten to tuck one in his wallet; relief was overwhelming when his fingers closed over one of the two foils.

'May I?'

Her question was sweet, unexpected; without a word, Esposito passed her the condom. Quick as a flash, she rolled him so she was now on top of him. She tore open the small packet and with deliberately slow movements, rolled the protection on. Thankfully, he had enough mental capacity left to stay steady; another second longer and he'd have embarrassed himself like a virgin on prom night. He rolled so he was on top again, groaning as she took him in her hand and helped guide him in. So hot, so slippery; he did that, he realized as he began to move with her. This tough-as-nails woman could melt like butter because of him. He kissed her, pressing his face against her throat as she clutched the back of his neck, whispered dirty little nothings in his ear; little demands and boosts to his ego.

Meredeth could feel the orgasm building inside her as she matched his pace. She moaned loudly as her nails dug shallow furrows from shoulderblade to hip as the first wave of sensation swamped her senses, harder than any other in her life. It blinded her from anything but him; drunk with pleasure she reared up, some how reversed their positions so she was now on top, driving him towards the same finale, raking fingers over his chest to make him groan.

Esposito's head lolled back as he held onto Meredeth; whatever kind of wanton nymphomaniac he'd imagined she'd be, it was nothing compared to the sexy heavy-eyed Meredeth who rose over him now. Rather than trying to sit up, he pulled her down so she was sprawled on his chest, him still steeped inside her as the second orgasm shook through her. He held on to her tightly as she urged him on until finally, he slipped off that razor edge and let it flood his system.

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_R&R&Enjoy_.


	16. Time Flies

They lay there like that, on her kitchen floor, the only sound their muffled breathing and the electric hum of the refrigerator. Esposito stared at the ceiling as he tried to get his breath back, his heart thundering like a freight train.

'Wow. That was...' Meredeth searched for the right word. 'Unexpected.'

'I'll say.' Esposito ran his hand over her back. 'I do have a question, though.'

'Sure.'

'What is up with the tattoo?'

Meredeth propped her chin on the fist she'd planted lightly on his chest. 'It's the call number on my mother's chopper.'

Touched, Esposito shifted kiss her, then realized the delicate position he was still in. 'Mind if I, you know, take care of...' He gestured vaguely, hoping she'd understand.

'Oh, by all means.' She rolled off of him, stared at the ceiling as Esposito disposed of the condom as she drummed her fingers on the belly that refused to go flat no matter how much exercise she did. He didn't seem to mind, though; in fact, he rather liked the fact that she wasn't a pencil, or the fact she'd had the same cup size at almost thirty-one as she'd had at nineteen. Pleased with herself, she stretched her arms upward, absently ran a hand over her neck. It had been well worth the wait, until they couldn't wait. Who knew the dedicated cop was such a bad-ass in bed? Or on floor, she corrected herself with a snort. She couldn't help herself, began to laugh hysterically. It wasn't that funny but at the moment it was the best damn thing in the world.

Esposito came back from the bathroom to find Meredeth rolling from side to side against the fridge in a fit of laughter, and shook his head at her. 'What's so funny?' he asked, sitting beside her as she wiped tears away.

'I was just thinking if that's what you're like on the kitchen floor, what'll happen when we actually make it to a bed?' Meredeth hummed lightly to try and get her senses together as she sat up, her back against the refrigerator door.

'I think we might die. But it has to be the number one way to go.'

'Not a bad way to end a six year drought.'

Esposito stared at her in blank shock. 'Six years? You mean the last time you were with a guy was when you were...'Esposito counted on his fingers. 'Twenty-five? Not just no sex, but no...anything?'

Meredeth sat up, suddenly very aware she was completely naked. 'Wiping that shock off your face would be helpful right about now, but yes. It has been almost six years since I've had anything more than a good-night kiss on a date.'

Esposito stared at her, trying to wrap his brain around this news. 'You'd never guess it, believe me. But...why?'

'Like I said, I've had really shitty luck with boyfriends in the past, and sex is something I've never treated lightly. When I met you, I don't know, it just...felt right.'

'Well, if we're into truth-telling, this is where we'd have ended up on our first date had I not gotten called in. But that being said, I'm glad we waited.'

'Really?'

'Yeah. Mostly because then I could surprise you by ravishing you on the kitchen floor.'

Meredeth snickered. 'Could be worse. We could have really gone for the cliche and been in the back seat of a car.'

'Or a cheap motel.'

'Or strip poker, which...oh Christ. What time is it?' Meredeth craned her neck to read the time on the microwave clock. 'Fuck me!'

'I thought I just did.'

'How did we spend an hour on the kitchen floor?' Embarrassed that it would be painfully obvious why they were late when she was meeting his friends for the first time, Meredeth began to gather up her clothes. 'Get up, we'll be lucky to make there by nine.'

Esposito watched her, flustered and pink-cheeked. She wasn't just beautiful, he thought, but hilariously cute when mortified. Rather than redressing himself, he grabbed his pants to fished his phone out of his other pocket and took it along with his wallet in one hand, grabbed Meredeth's wrist with the other.

'Come on.'

Meredeth arched an eyebrow at him when they made it to her room, tossed the clothes in the direction of her closet. 'Why are we in my room? Your friends are going to send out a search party.'

Esposito kissed her, tossed her lightly on the bed as he dialled a number on his cell. 'Castle, it's Javier. We're going to be a little late, so don't wait for us to start. Why? You're the writer, use your imagination.'

He hung up on Castle's splutter with a satisfied grin, tossed the phone over his shoulder into the pile of clothes Meredeth had dropped on the floor and crossed to his girlfriend. 'Done.'

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_R&R&Enjoy_.


	17. Meet & Greet

They didn't make to Castle's condo until nearly quarter to ten - owing to a repeat of the kitchen performance in Mere's lake of a bed - and even then only because they'd hopped in a cab and booked it across town in paranormally rapid time.

Outside Castle's door, Meredeth fidgeted with her keys. She'd done three national television interviews the week before and she was more nerve-wracked at the idea of Esposito's friends turning their nose up at her. Her muscles clenched as he knocked on the door.

'Don't be anxious, they'll like you.'

'But what if-'

Esposito clapped his hand against her mouth; he'd heard every possible variant of 'what if' in the taxi on the drive over. 'Trust me.'

'Okay.' She kissed him once, smiled when he pulled her back in for one more. She was so lost in the kiss she didn't hear the door open, or Castle's smothered laugh.

'No wonder you two are late. You want to come in, or should I close the door and come back in fifteen minutes or so?'

Esposito coloured a little, but manage to put together words. 'If it's not too much trouble.'

Castle grinned broadly, stepped back from the door in invitation. He'd met Meredeth Coleman on a couple of occasions, all professionally-related. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, and the kiss she'd just finished sharing with his friend had put healthy colour in her already florid cheeks. He shook her hand, bussed her cheek warmly before turning to Esposito with a toothy, knowing grin.

'Nice of you to join us, Romeo.'

'Like you've never been late for poker because you were tangled up with Beckett.'

They gave Castle their coats, wandered into the open space where the card table had been set up. Meredeth walked over, saw a blonde man and pretty red-headed teenager in the middle of a heated game of Twenty-One.

'I hope you still have enough to buy in for Texas Hold'Em, Ryan,' the girl said, collecting a stack of chips as the man reached for his wallet.

'Babe, please don't lose it all to Alexis,' a blonde woman called from the kitchen as she arranged bottles of beer in a bowl of ice.

The man glanced up and did a double take, his sharp blue eyes dancing with joy. 'You must be Meredeth. I'm Kevin Ryan.'

'Meredeth Coleman. Nice to meet you.'

Alexis stopped counting her winnings, gulped like a fish on a boat deck. 'Oh my god!' she squeaked, grabbed Meredeth's hand and pumped it like an air jack. 'Alexis Castle. Big fan. Read and own every Lady Hawk graphic novel. I just loved Little Sister.'

'It was my favourite one to write so far. How much did you take Ryan for?'

'Only sixty bucks. I'm saving up to buy my own Blu-Ray for my room.'

Meredeth nodded as she took a seat. She knew that Richard Castle had sole custody of his daughter by his first marriage, but she'd been prepared for a Paris-Hilton-in-training, not the sweet, bubbly fangirl who saved her pennies instead using the ATM of Daddy.

'Alright Alexis, fabulous as you are at swindling the NYPD, it's time for the grown-ups to play.' Castle kissed the top of his daughter's head. 'Why don't you go and give Honey-Milk a hand in the kitchen?'

Meredeth opened her mouth to ask who was Honey-Milk when two women - one tall and Slavic, the other petite and Dominican -came down stairs. Both made her instantly feel lumpy and ungraceful as they moved lithely, comfortably through the apartment. The tall one stopped to accept a warm kiss from Castle; Meredeth recognized her from Cosmo. Kate Beckett was reputed to be as great a detective as Sherlock Holmes and looked like a Victoria's Secret model. No wonder Castle was so taken with her.

'Took you long enough,' she said, taking her seat at the poker table beside Meredeth. 'Hi. Kate Beckett. Nice to finally meet you.'

'Lanie Parish,' the petite woman added from across the table where she gave Ryan a warm hug. 'We know almost nothing about you, so you'll have to fill us in as we play.'

Esposito sat down, passed one beer to Meredeth and kept one for himself. 'Personal questions are not part of the ante, not after what you guys pulled on Thursday.'

'What happened Thursday?' Meredeth looked in anticipation from her now red-cheeked boyfriend to Lanie, whose eyes twinkled with glee.

'Well, Esposito here casually mentioned that you were going to be on Craig Ferguson,' Lanie started, explaining the evening to Meredeth, who hooted with laughter.

'That's priceless! Good thing I didn't text him while you guys were there, that might have made his head blow up.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Esposito grumbled good-naturedly, gave Meredeth's hair a little tug. 'We playing cards or what?'

When Castle joined the table, they dealt the cards and anted up. The first rounds went to Ryan, then Beckett won a hand, but the fourth round ended with a showdown between Castle and Meredeth, who squared off with the intensity of old west gunslingers.

'I see your ten, and raise you ten.'

'I see your ten and raise you another ten.'

'I see your ten and raise you five personal questions.'

'Hey now,' Esposito warned. 'You watch what you mean by personal.'

Castle's only response was a smirk before looking back at Meredeth, who was as unreadable as the Rosetta Stone. 'What do you say, Lady Hawk?'

'I call. Show me what you got.'

Castle threw his pair of fours on the table to make three of a kind, watched Meredeth's face fall in disappointment. 'Hey I'm sorry, newbie, but that's the way the game's played. When it comes to gambling, no more Mr. Nice Castle.'

Meredeth sighed dramatically. 'No, it's just I feel bad for you, getting hustled in your own home. Clubs flush,' she said, brightening into a smile as she laid her cards on the table and collected her chips from the middle of the table, leaving Castle to gape and the rest of the table to snicker.

'She got you good, Castle,' Ryan said, clapping him on the back.

'Beginner's luck,' Castle retorted and slammed the deck in front of Beckett. 'Your deal honey. You're going down,' he added, pointing a warning finger at Meredeth, who continued to smile serenely.

'I do believe saying I beat Richard Castle at poker would give me full-on cool points for life.'

Esposito laughed, shook his head as he rested his hand on the back of Meredeth's chair. 'Still nervous about meeting my friends?

'Like hell. Poker is war, and Castle is going down.'

'Bring it!'

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R_&R&Enjoy_.


	18. Nurse Don Juan

'Tough break, Castle. Not much beats a full house, except of course, my pretty little quartet of nines.'

'Yeah, yeah.' Castle grumbled, drained his drink. Had he known what a card-shark Meredeth Coleman was he'd have planned a different night to have the gang meet her, instead of having his hyper-toned gambling skills openly mocked by the newcomer. 'Just you wait, you're going down.'

'I'm sorry, I can't hear your over the sound of all those twenties flying out of your wallet into my purse. Maybe I'll buy you some private poker lessons.' Meredeth bared her teeth in a fierce grin.

Esposito grinned broadly, couldn't help himself; leaned over and gave Meredeth a noisy, smacking kiss on her cheek that made her eyes squint shut in delighted glee. His girlfriend was just too cool for words. 'Or maybe you can buy me something pretty I can wear to the station and rub in his face.'

'I knew you were sizing up that tie we saw at Ralph Lauren the other day,' Meredeth finished on a yawn. She was thoroughly enjoying herself, but she was exhausted. 'Castle, do you mind if I go pass out on your couch?'

'Why don't you go take the guest room? Upstairs, across from the bathroom.'

'Thanks. I just need like twenty minutes to lie down.'

An hour later, as Esposito had suspected, Meredeth hadn't reappeared. He couldn't blame her though, she'd had an action packed week of work, followed by the amazing sex they'd had on her kitchen floor - damn if that wasn't hot, he mused - followed by meeting his friends and co-workers. Even the most skilled social butterfly would want to cry for mercy after a week like that. Downstairs, however, the card game was still going strong, with Beckett well in the lead while Ryan was barely hanging on to his buy-in. Esposito sipped his cold beer, studied his hand. He had a good shot at winning this round, maybe taking a chunk out of Beckett's earnings, use it to take Meredeth to see a show at the theatre. He couldn't stand all the singing-and-dancing, but it was worth it to see how her face lit up.

So long as he could keep Castle from beating him to it.

'I'll see your ten, raise you another ten,' he said in his best old-west saloon voice, making Beckett shake her head at them.

'I'll see your ten, raise you another ten,' Esposito echoed.

'Dangerous to play with money. I'll see your ten, and raise you one question about Mere.'

Esposito's eyes frosted over. 'Oh, now that's playing dirty. I'm not discussing my private life like some gossipy teenager.'

'What gossip? You weren't even the one who told us you were seeing someone! We found out from Lanie!'

'Can you blame him?' Beckett jumped in, tossing in her cards as she could see where this was headed. 'If he wants to keep his thoughts to himself even after he poked his nose into everyone's business, that's his slightly selfish prerogative.'

Esposito shifted uncomfortably. Beckett had a rather uncanny way of sounding like a guilt-tripping mother when she wanted to find out info just as much as Castle. 'Fine. I call your one question.' He threw down the cards on the table, leaving Castle groaning in frustration - his miserable pair of red twos were no where near Esposito's flush of clubs. 'Fine. Looks like you get my money and you keep your dirty little secrets to yourself. I'm curious to know what kind of lucky sign you have to be born under in order to blow off Rachel Shepard and pick up Meredeth Coleman in the same night, though.'

'Well, thanks to your generous betting tonight, I'm-'

'DAD!'

Esposito heard the urgency underlined with ripe panic in Alexis' voice as she shouted down the stairs, and knew in an instant what the situation was. Before Castle had even left the table, Esposito bolted up from his chair, nearly tipping it over as he all but flew up the stairs to the guest room, knowing what he'd find there. Sure enough, he saw Meredeth lying on her back, talking in her sleep in that same panicked child-like voice the first time he'd seen it happen.

'What happened?' Castle demanded of his daughter, who stood beside the bed gulping for air, her porcelain face nearly grey with worry.

'We were watching a film, and she fell asleep, and then all of a sudden she started crying and kicking. I- I didn't know what to do.'

'I don't know. Esposito-' Castle turned to ask his friend what to do, but Esposito had already sat on the edge of the bed beside her, grabbed her shoulders and shook firmly, oblivious to the crowd that had gathered.

'Mere, wake up now.'

'No. Get them off.'

'Mere-'

'No!' The words ripped from her throat as she sat upright, gasping for air, fingers brushing at her arms and legs.

Esposito caught her face in his hands, tried to get her to focus. 'Mere, it's alright. It's alright, there's nothing there.'

'Javi?'

'Shh, it's okay, baby, I'm here.' Esposito gathered her close, felt her heart racing as Alexis looked on in abject worry. 'It's alright Lex. Can you grab me some water for her?'

Alexis dashed out to the kitchen, past Castle, Beckett and Lanie who stood crowded by the door as they watched, worried, as Esposito soothed his girlfriend. The only sound for a long time was Meredeth's uneven breathing and Esposito's shushing. Finally, Meredeth spoke quietly. 'I think I just scarred my number one fan for life.'

'Lex is tougher than she looks. Was it a bad one?'

'No, just sudden. I didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep.' She looked up, her cheeks turning tomato red as she saw the others hovering by the doorway, staring at her in concern. 'I'm sorry I interrupted your game.'

'Nonsense.' Castle's voice was low, to disguise the shake in it. 'Are you okay, should I call somone?'

'No, really I'm fine. I have night terrors,' she replied, explaining the story of Colby and Baby to the trio. The looks of pity on their faces made her feel even more like a circus freak. 'They're not as frequent anymore, but when they hit, they hit hard. Thank you, Alexis,' she added, as the girl returned with a pitcher of ice water and glass. 'I feel so embarrassed.'

'Don't apologize, it's not your fault.' Esposito pulled her close, kissed the top of her head as she rested it against his shoulder. 'You want me to stay with you for a few minutes?'

'Please.'

Without saying a word Esposito helped her settle back on the bed, stretched himself out beside her, keeping her close while the rest of the party went downstairs, looked around at each other with numb disbelief as they sat around the poker table. No one would dare tease him now about cuddling with his girlfriend, not after hearing that her sleep problems made Ryan's insomnia look like a trip to Candyland.

'Well,' Beckett said after a long pause, 'I think it's safe to say you'll get to plan another wedding, Castle.'

'They've barely been together a month.'

Beckett shook her head. The look she'd seen on Esposito's face when he'd begun to soothe his distraught girlfriend, holding her so close and tenderly, wasn't a man infatuated, but a man who'd taken the head-first unavoidable fall into the love of his life. 'Just trust me.'

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R_&R&Enjoy_.


	19. Fitting In

Upstairs in Castle's guest bedroom, Esposito still held Meredeth close to him. He'd never been the comforting boyfriend who held his woman when she was distressed - most of the girls he'd dated would have clawed his eyes out at the notion they needed comfort from him when upset - and yet it came as easily as breathing with Meredeth.

'Feeling better?'

'Yeah.' Meredeth shifted so she lay on her stomach, able now to look at his face. 'I hope your friends weren't too weirded out.'

'We're murder cops, it takes a lot more than bad dreams to flip us out.' He wouldn't tell her, at least not yet, that seeing her panic, hearing her voice so young and afraid scared the piss out of him more than a whole warehouse of of armed crackheads. Brushing her hair off her face, he watched her eyes. They were clear now, the pupils back to their normal size, and her skin was no longer clammy with sweat.

'It's why traveling makes me anxious. The time zone changes screw up my body clock and the lack of sleep triggers something. I'm surprised it didn't happen when I went to your place right after the airport on Thursday.'

'Well, if it had, I was right there.' Again, he thought, that comforting thing. Where did it come from? Meredeth was a born-and-raised New Yorker, she knew how to handle her business. What was it about her that made him feel so protective? As much for his own reassurance as his, he kissed her once lightly; the tension he didn't realize was riding in his shoulders dissolved when she pressed her palm to his cheek and deepened the kiss. They shifted on the bed so she was underneath him, that generously curved body lush as a tropical garden he could happily feast upon for days. What a mouth she had, he marveled, that everything else seemed to float away except her when he kissed her. For moment he forgot they weren't at either of their own homes, and nearly asked her what else she could do with that mouth.

He was brought back to Earth when a knock sounded on the door, followed by Ryan's voice. 'We ordered Chinese and we're going to watch _The Hangover_, so unless you're otherwise occupied, you might want to come down before Castle steals all the spring-rolls and Lanie takes all the almond soo gai for herself.'

Meredeth let out a soft groan of annoyance. She'd felt the tingle start in her spine, work its way forward to her belly when Ryan had so inconveniently interrupted. 'Okay, we'll be right down.'

She patted Esposito on the chest in a get-off-me gesture, raked her fingers through her hair. 'Are they going to assume every time we're alone in a room together, we're going at it like rabbits during mating season?'

'Considering Castle opened the door on us kissing, I'd say yeah.' Esposito sat up beside her, a devilish glint in his eye. Along with that need to keep her safe from her nightmares, she'd awoken a sex-starved monster inside him. He wouldn't have considered himself hard-up for some action though it had been awhile since he'd been with a woman before her; now that they'd been together the only thing he could think of was getting his hands on her again. 'Or we could just stay up here, really give them reason to assume.'

White-hot heat lanced into Meredeth's chest, diffused through her body. The temptation was so strong to simply lock the door and throw him down on the bed like he had with her on her kitchen floor; she couldn't believe she was actively considering it. 'As much as I would like to, three things - one, they're waiting for us downstairs, two - Alexis' room is on the other side of that wall and three - we used all your condoms before we got here. All that aside, I am actually hungry.'

'Alright. Let's go.'

Meredeth started for the door, turned back just before she opened it and gave him a considering look. 'We could leave early, stop at a pharmacy.'

'I like the way you think, but-' Esposito leaned in to whisper in her ear '-I have more at my place.'

'Out of here at one-thirty, I'll spring for a cab.'

They sauntered downstairs, Esposito lightly massaging Meredeth's neck as the smell of stir-fried vegetables and deep-fried chicken hit his nose. The group was already crowding around the kitchen island as they divvied up the take out. Castle glanced up, a grin splitting his face. 'Look who's up and around.'

'I'm powerless against mushu. Are there any spring rolls?' Meredeth grabbed a plate, scanned the food and in doing so, missed the exchange of knowing looks between the rest of the group. Lanie cleared her throat as she passed the carton to her.

'Knock yourself out. By the way, Beckett, Honey-Milk and I are having a girls-night next Wednesday.'

'You are?'

'We are?' Honey-Milk and Beckett chorused in surprise; it was the first they'd heard of it.

'Yeah, you should come with. Moldavia Seventh and Forty-Fifth, eight-thirty good for you?'

Meredeth stood dumbfounded, her beloved spring-roll in hand like a little torch. 'I guess, sure?'

'Excellent. I'd put that roll on your plate before your man scoops it on you.'

'What?' Meredeth glanced over her shoulder, saw Esposito had been just about to take a bite out of it. 'You pig, that's mine. Get your own.'

'You gotta move fast and guard your food around cops. And besides, didn't you take the last slice of my whole-wheat crust on Friday morning for breakfast?'

'Fair point.'

Once their plates were loaded, they were treated to the excellence of Castle's home theatre - a forty-two inch plasma flat screen with Blu-Ray and five-point-one digital surround sound, perfect for the sensory overload that was _The Hangover_. As they watched the film, Esposito could help himself from checking his watch every ten minutes in anticipation of going home with Meredeth. At last, when the mystery of the bachelor party from hell was solved, he gave Meredeth's thigh a subtle squeeze, a move he knew she understood perfectly when she feigned a damn good yawn and said, 'Well, as much fun as this has been, I'm still pretty tired from traveling so I think we're going to head home.'

Esposito forced himself to be as casual as Meredeth, hoping they wouldn't grill him too hard on Monday morning about his not-so-subtle escape. The minute the door closed behind them, in the elevator, Esposito had Meredeth up against the wall, kissing her until he heard her squeak.

'Easy, tiger. I don't want you to have to arrest yourself.'

'Just thought I'd give you a little preview.'

Meredeth gulped; if it was anything like that evening, she'd been dead in a week. 'Screw the cab, I'll pay for a hotel two blocks away from here.'

'All good things to those who wait.' So saying, Esposito stepped back from her, pleased how she looked flushed and flustered. Thank God he was only on call the next day. Neither of them would be getting much sleep that night.

Back in Castle's condo, the rest of the group looked around at each other, unsure whether they should be embarrassed that everyone knew just why Esposito and Meredeth were leaving early, or sigh romantically that the new couple were such a perfect fit for each other. Finally Castle, ever the wordsmith, cleared his throat. 'I take it back. Fifty big ones says they elope to Vegas by next Christmas.'

* * *

R_&R&Enjoy_.


	20. Making Friends

_Hello faithful readers! As a little gift to you for being away (Ariel119 I'm looking at you), I'm giving you a nice big bonus double-chappie of 2329 words! This was a tricky one to write but I think it came out well!_

* * *

Meredeth was nervous as hell when she walked into Moldavia a few nights later. She'd barely slept the last couple of nights - Saturday being no exception after leaving Castle's to go home and have wild sex with her boyfriend most of the night - due to anxiety of what to expect from these three formidable women in Esposito's life. Their mere presence made Meredeth finally understand the bone-deep terror Tweety felt when Sylvester came in the room looking for a snack.

Still it was important to her that she get along with them; the last thing she'd do is make him chose between being friends off the job with them and her. She knew who would win that fight and she'd be damned if she'd let him get away from her because she couldn't play nice with the other kids.  
Her fears were somewhat assuaged when she saw Lanie and Honey-Milk sitting in a booth near the bar, already half-way through a pitcher of some fruity pink drink loaded with alcohol. Lanie caught her eye, waved her over.

'Hey, Mere, glad you could make it. Twisted lemonade?'

'Sure.'

Lanie poured her a glass with a flourish. 'Beckett's not here yet. Guess it's her turn tonight to get tangled up with her man,' she said with a saucy wink at Meredeth, who blushed deeply; Lanie reached over, patted her hand. 'Don't worry, girl, we'll get you all liquored up before we start telling secrets. Easier to grease them out of you that way.'

'Ryan said you were on a couple of late night shows in L.A. last week. I'm sorry I missed them,' Honey-Milk said, hoping she would be able to put Meredeth at ease. She knew all too well what it was like to be the new kid in the room with the tough crowd of the 12th's cops. 'Did Esposito really text you in the middle of your interview?'

'Yeah, he did.' Meredeth remembered the moment with a little smile, the way her pocket had started buzzing when she was taping with Craig Ferguson. 'I don't think it was on purpose, though. I think he thought I still had some time before it started. Could have been much worse, though, could have been something way more personal.'

'Nothing beats Castle when it comes to badly-timed texts.' Beckett appeared at the table, swung into the booth beside Meredeth, effectively trapping her between the cop and the cop's wife. 'We were looking for a suspect down near Canal street, in this huge warehouse, and all of a sudden, his phone starts going off DAD-DAD-DAD.'

'Right, the fake passports,' Honey-Milk added, refilling her own glass. She sipped, watched Meredeth with careful eyes. She looked about as comfortable as underwear made out of hot irons, and she couldn't blame her. She'd gone through something similar when she'd met Ryan's co-workers too. Before she could open her mouth to say something to help put her at ease, Beckett passed Meredeth a glass.

'We're not going to eat you alive, writer girl, we just thought you might like a chance to get to know us away from the boys, and vice versa.'

'Yeah, we know meeting your boyfriend's friends can be a real nightmare,' Lanie added before she could think through her word choice.

Meredeth set her glass down slowly as she felt her face burn, tears of embarrassment springing up suddenly at the corners of her eyes. 'Right.'

'Oh shit, I didn't mean like that.' Ready to kick her own ass to Sunday, Lanie closed a reassuring hand over Meredeth's. 'Mere, really, we don't think you're strange because of what happened.'

'Really, we were most intrigued by how Esposito was your little nursemaid when it did happen,' Beckett added, knowing how much Lanie hated herself for a slip of the tongue like that. 'And besides, we've all got baggage that creeps up and grabs us by the throat. I had nightmares for a year after my mother was murdered, I still get them from time to time, and Honey-Milk here, why don't you tell the story of that little name?'

'My husband, Ryan, he worked in violent crimes before he transferred to homicide and had insomnia for a long time until he started drinking the same honey-milk he makes me before bed. Can you imagine the teasing he got from his colleagues over that?' Honey-Milk added, topping off everyone's drink and emptying the pitcher. 'Big tough murder-cop who uses the old wives' cure of warm milk before bed? The same guy who watches your guy's back out there on the mean NYC streets?'

Meredeth had to laugh a little at the incongruity, which helped put her at ease. 'Knowing my man the way I do, I doubt he'd let it go.'

'Speaking of your man,' Lanie put in, pleased to see Meredeth unwinding a little now, 'you said you'd been single awhile before meeting him. How is it a fabulous lady like you wouldn't have been snapped up?'

Before she could answer, the waiter brought them menus for food. He was a fine specimen of a man, a dead ringer for Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson, and he did a double take when he saw Meredeth sitting at the table.

'Mere?'

'Scott.' Meredeth felt the liquor in her stomach slosh uncomfortably. 'I had no idea you were working here.'

'Yeah, just making a little extra cash before we start production on Jay's new musical. It's opening next spring, if we can get into rehearsals by December.'

'I'll book tickets for opening night.'

'Please, girl, for you? I'll make sure my man mails you VIP passes for you and your man. I'll put your order in.'

'Bye.' Meredeth sipped her drink studiously as the other three turned saucer-sized curious eyes to her face. 'Alright, let it out.'

'Who was that?' Honey-Milk sat confused.

'That was Scott, my last boyfriend before Javi.'

'But he's gay isn't he?' Lanie looked after him, intrigued.

'Yep, he sure is.'

'But..oh. Oh! Girl, that is rough.'

'Yeah, so after that went up in flames,' Meredeth sighed, eliciting giggles from her three cohorts, 'I swore off men for awhile, until I found the right one. Now, I mean it's only been a month but I can't imagine what it'd be like without Javi. I was such a suck, I missed him so much when I was in L.A..'

Beckett studied Meredeth's face as she spoke of her co-worker, noted the slightly dreamy softness and pure happiness that lit her face when she talked about him. It was the same expression she'd seen on Esposito's face when Meredeth had mentioned him on _The Late Late Show_ interview from the week before. She wondered how long it would take them to say the big L-word to each other, since it was so painfully obvious that was how they felt.

'Well, I can safely say you've chosen well,' she told Meredeth; Honey-Milk added, 'you really did, he's a great guy.'

'Hear, hear.' Lanie raised her glass, clinked it against the others. 'Should we get another round?'

Somewhere in the middle of the second pitcher, Meredeth knew she was on her way to being right smashed. The vodka of the first pitcher had sneaked up and kicked her in the side of the head when she wasn't watching. Even more delightful than the feeling of being just comfortably tipsy was the fact that these three women had taken a shine to her and made her realize she'd missed the fun of a foolish girls' night out like she'd had in college. The sober part of her studied them with a writer's eye - Beckett, gorgeous and streamlined, those big Bambi eyes her greatest asset along with her rich humming laugh, Honey-Milk's warmth and her soothing voice that coupled with her giddy bubbling laugh, and Lanie, the dainty stature a perfect match to her sassy don't-mess-with-me attitude. They made quite the ensemble, and Meredeth brought a creative, poetic side to the group, the dreamer with a razor's wit that people paid money for in a paperback.

The drunk side, which was taking over the sober side quite rapidly, just enjoyed being included in the group, as one of the gang.

Things became a little more interesting when Scott brought over a complimentary round of Poison-Apples - green-apple vodka, Jagermeister and green Sour-Puss shooters. They were all a little daffy by now and Meredeth had sense enough to know that doing shooters would send them over the edge. Before anyone could take a drink, Lanie said with a bit of a slur in her voice, 'This is all well and good, Meredeth but you haven't gotten to any of the good stuff yet.'

'What good stuff?' she asked innocently.

'You know, the good stuff.' Lanie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, making Meredeth swallow deeply and Beckett groan.

'Oh, Lanie come on, we work with the guy.'

'Fine, leave. Then she'll have privacy to fill in the single girl on some little details and one hopefully huge one.' Lanie gestured grandly with her hands, making Meredeth blush red as a candy-apple.

'Seriously, Lanie, do you even-'

'I have an idea.' Having gathered her wits, Honey-Milk propped her elbows on the table. 'We all have shots to do, right? We pick three stories, who ever has the best one of each round does their shot. That way we all share and we all shoot.'

'Sounds excellence. Excellent,' Lanie said, correcting herself. 'I'll be the judge. What do we start with?'

'Something easy, like first time with your man. Beckett yours is pretty good, you go first.'

'Night of the wedding reception for Ryan and Honey-Milk here. We had one last dance after everyone had left. I was brushing cake crumbs off his shirt and felt his heart racing away, and then he kissed me, and things just went from there.'

'Nice, but we still have two more to go. Honey-Milk?'

'Fourth date. We were watching a movie at my place and we'd talked about waiting, but once those lips hit mine-' Honey-Milk slapped her palms together to prove her point '-like thunderbolts, baby. Kev's a really good kisser so I had a hard time saying no.'

'Oh saucy. Think you can top that, newbie?'

'Oh, of course.' Relieved they weren't going too _Sex and the City_ on her, Meredeth drummed fingers on the table. 'The night of the poker game. I was finishing cleaning in my apartment when he came in. He just started kissing me in the middle of my kitchen and then we were up against my apartment door tearing at each others' clothes until we finished the deed right there on my freshly waxed kitchen floor.'

They all stared at her a moment before Lanie cleared her throat. 'Clearly that's no contest, Mere, you gotta drink. And also? Have to say I'm a little jealous.'

Meredeth felt pride swell inside her. Or maybe it was just the Poison Apple. Either way, she knew the trio was looking at her in a whole new light now. 'Okay, what's next on the docket?'

By the time she was in a cab to go home, Meredeth knew she was one hundred percent bashed but fortunately made it to her apartment in one piece. Propped against the door, she fumbled with her keys and nearly went face first into the ground when the door opened and she saw Esposito standing there in pyjama bottoms and a black NYPD t-shirt.

'Hello muffin-cakes!'

'Hello yourself.'

Meredeth looked around comically, peaked inside the door. 'Am I at my home, or your home?'

'Your home. You gave me to a key last week for while you were out of town. I still had it, so thought I'd wait to see how your night went with the girls.' When Meredeth toddled in on legs not quite steady, he only shook his head. Leave it to the three ladies of the 12th to get his girlfriend loopy the first night they met her. 'I take it things went well.'

'They loved me,' Meredeth declared proudly as she began stripping in the kitchen, all the way back to her room so she was in her underwear and face down on the bed in a matter of minutes. 'They thought I was wonderful.'

'Well who wouldn't?'

Meredeth grinned the bleary grin of a happy drunk. 'You're so pretty, Javi. And as much fun as it'd be to have sex, I need some sleep,' she told him in a stage whisper.

'I agree,' he replied in the same tone. As she snuggled under her blankets, he stretched out in his sweats beside her. 'Sweet dreams, my little lush.'

* * *

R_&R&Enjoy_.


	21. Dark Discovery

_Hello once again, I'm back to my super-speedy updates! See if you can spot the Easter-egg in this chapter!_

* * *

'Sounds like some party they had last night. Think they spilled any secrets about-'

'Nope, don't even mention it, man. That will only lead to trouble.'

Esposito rolled up his shirt sleeves as Ryan continued to sort through the seemingly-unending stacks of browser history printouts. He'd left Meredeth in bed sleeping off her girls' night and wasn't sure who made more noise - her snorting in her sleep or Arturo whining to be let out. After taking the pup to the sidewalk and a sprint through his girlfriend's shower, he'd arrived at work to see Beckett yawning largely into her coffee while Ryan and Castle snickered into theirs. Now, several monotonous hours later, he sat with his partner going through the reams of computer history. It was tedious work but he knew there had to be a payoff in it somewhere to catch the elusive Bodega Stalker.

Twenty-minutes later, Ryan sat up straight in his chair, his handsome face going cold in a nano-second.

'Hey I got something here, and you're not going to like it.'

'What?'

Ryan scanned the page he'd partially highlighted and blew out a breath. 'The second vic, Satipo, he's chatting with another user about one of Meredeth's Lady Hawk books and it's pretty intense.'

'What's it say?'

'Satipo says he liked the arc that introduced Little Sister but killing her off in the fourth book was a very poor decision on the author's part and another user, LadyHawkNo1Fan, calls him every name under the sun for daring to criticize the genius of your girlfriend.'

'Internet forums are full of weirdos.'

'Yeah, but do they make mention of killing critics by stealth poisons in their soft drinks?'

Esposito felt his heartbeat thicken. That hit a little too close for comfort. He shifted in his chair to face Ryan, eyes serious and glowering. 'The same guy pop up in the other two vics' computers?'

'Different user names but the idea's the same. All three are threatened with death they won't see coming, appropriate for short-sighted idiots like themselves.'

'You think Mere's next target?'

Before Ryan could answer him, Beckett strolled in to the conference room, looking a little worn out as she examined the sea of paper covering the table. 'Canvass still isn't turning up a damn thing. Tell me you've got from the computer printouts.'

'Maybe.' Ryan edged his chair away from his partner's a little, knowing what Esposito's temper was like when full blown. 'I came across a conversation between Satipo and a user named LadyHawkNo1Fan in the Book-Bites room. He threatens Satipo in the same way he was murdered because he had a constructive criticism of one of Meredeth Coleman's stories. I found similar conversations on Brandon Weaver's machine with LadyHawk4Ever and on Leia Finch's with BringBackLittleSister.'

'Head down to the tech lab with what you've got, see if they can run things back to a location.' Beckett folded her arms across her chest, looked at Esposito who'd stayed in his chair after Ryan had been dismissed. 'She say anything to you, Detective? Anyone making her uncomfortable, threatening fanmail, troubles at work?'

'No, she hasn't said a word, but she's got a lot on the go right now. Between publicity for the new short-story book and moving, I'm surprised she's had much time for me, never mind...' Esposito trailed off, cracked his knuckles. 'You're not giving me the boot, Beckett, you-'

'No I'm not. But this is a fine line to walk, Javier. If Meredeth is the ultimate target I need you to think like a cop, not the boyfriend who wants blood. If you can't handle it, I want your word you won't fight being taken off this case.'

'Beckett-'

'Javi.' Beckett pulled up the chair Ryan had vacated and sat down across from him so they were eye to eye. 'I know you love her-'

'She means the world to me.'

'-but you can't go vigilante. Do you trust me, Ryan, Castle, to catch this guy?'

'Yes.'

'Then get down to the tech lab with Ryan, and as soon as you're done, go talk to Meredeth. Like a cop.'

Esposito met Ryan in the elevator lobby of the tech level of the 12th. He'd used the ride down as time to compose himself but not by much. It wasn't even anger Beckett mistakenly thought he felt. It was fear; bone-deep greasy fear Meredeth might be in danger. He met Ryan at a brisk walk towards the garage exits, knowing his partner would have to nearly run to keep up to him. 'Give me something.'

'Tech's running the computers on priority. What's the next move?'

'We're going to the Web-Zine, Inc. building. It's Thursday so Mere will be in her office.'

When they reached the skyscraper that housed her publication's headquarters, they hot-footed it down the hall to Meredeth's spacious office. Esposito stopped just outside the door to give him time to compose himself before he went in and spoke to her. She looked surprisingly chipper for someone who'd barely remembered her own house the night before, and he suspected it had something to do with the six Starbucks take-away cups lined up like latte-soldiers on her desk. She was dressed in jeans and a sweater as she stared at storyboards, debating hotly with a straw-blonde man in her grandmother's language. Normally Esposito would have been wiping drool from his chin at hearing her speak Danish but now, it was all he could do to keep from bundling her out of the building and into the safety of Ryan's car.

She turned when the blonde man gestured towards Ryan and Esposito, sent them a broad smile.

'Hey you. Checking to see if I still have a functioning liver?'

'Official business.' Esposito tried to keep his expression stony, but the misery was plain in his voice. 'It's serious, Mere.'

Meredeth felt a zip of panic. 'My grandmother?'

'No, nothing like that. It's about you.'

'Me?' Now there was confusion as Meredeth sat on the edge of her desk.

'Um, could you excuse us?' Ryan said in a low voice to the blonde man, who nodded and discreetly closed the door behind him. Knowing that Esposito would take the role of comforter here, which was to be expected, he cleared his throat and put his hands on his hips. There was no way to say it but to say it. 'Meredeth, we've found evidence that suggests you might have a stalker.'

'What?'

'The case we've been working on, the Bodega Stalker, we've connected the three victims via a chat room called Book-Bites and each of them engaged in a debate with another forum user over your graphic novel series. In each instance, the unknown user threatened to kill each of the victims in the way they actually were murdered.'

Meredeth licked her now-dry lips, looked at Esposito. 'Javi? When did you this find out?'

'Only a few hours ago, we came over here as soon as we knew you might be a target.' Esposito jammed his hands into his pockets in impotent frustration. 'Have you ever gone to the Nuyorican Bodega?'

'No. I know the name but I've never been in there, and my grandmother does all her shopping in Mid-Town.'

'What about going to the park with Arturo? Anyone there you thought looked a little off?'

Meredeth shook her head again. 'I don't think so. I mean I had a guy ask me if I wanted to breed Arturo last week, but he's been fixed since he was four months old.'

Before Ryan or Esposito could ask any more questions, a skinny guy with horn-rimmed glasses stuck his head in the door. 'Mere? Got your network connections patched.'

'Thanks Stuart. I'd be lost with out you. Just put it on the desk.'

Stuart wandered in with the laptop, looked carefully at Ryan and Esposito's suits. 'Everything alright here?'

'Yeah, just my boyfriend and his partner stopping in for a quick chat.'

Stuart gave them one last look before heading out, leaving Meredeth to sigh. 'He's nosy, but my laptop was on the fritz and he's the best in-house tech we've got. Ryan, is there-'

'More than anything we just want you to be aware. Not panic, just be cautious, especially using the Internet the next little while. From what we can tell, this guy's got some serious beefs if anyone takes a shot at your writing.'

'Ryan, give us a minute,' Esposito said in a too-calm voice. When the Irishman had left, he crossed to Mere, took her chin in his hand. 'I swear I won't let anything happen to you.'

'I know.'

'I want you give us a copy of your agenda for the next week or two, your social engagements, professional shit, whatever. And don't spend every night at your own place. Better yet, stay at my place for a few nights. Bring Arturo with you or take him to your grandmother's.'

'Javi-'

'Please, Mere.'

Meredeth studied his face, saw it wasn't control or anger there but worry that was edging towards paranoia. She put his hand on her face in a gesture she hoped would reassure him. 'Okay. If it makes you feel better.'

'I'd do anything to keep you safe.'

'I know.'

'And,' he added, giving her bottom lip a quick nip, 'it's more fun than sleeping alone.'

'I know that too.'

* * *

R_&R&Enjoy_.


	22. Temporary Relief

When Meredeth arrived at Esposito's after work, with Arturo in tow, she was ready for a stiff drink and a soft flat surface.

'Now don't get too cozy,' she said to Arturo as he began to sniff around Esposito's living room before parking himself in front of this hideous purple armchair. 'This is temporary, and shoes aren't chew toys.'

'Hey, thought I heard you come in.'

Meredeth looked over, and felt her pulse throb a happy little drumbeat. Esposito stood at the door of his bedroom, dressed only in black sweats and rubbing the towel slung over his shoulders over his crew cut. She swallowed deeply as she stood up. 'Hello handsome.'

'I picked up a few things on the way home for you, figured you might like to make dinner.' He knew that the routine of meal preparation was one of her favourite ways to unwind. Crossing to her, he gave her a kiss that had Arturo growling protectively. 'Oh relax, Artie, I'm not mauling her.'

'You're not the only one who likes to play white knight.'

'Mere, you know I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think it was serious, especially considering Saturday is Hallowe'en and things have been insane this week.'

'I know.' She didn't bother wasting her energy on being angry, as there was no point; he knew she could handle trouble but this was not the regular everyday worries of living in the city. Sleeping with a cop whop kept his sidearm on the nightstand was definitely a good precaution. 'What did you pick up?'

'Um, chicken, tomatoes, onions, parmesan cheese, some bunch of green herbs, white wine and something called stock. Guy at the grocery said it's good for sauces.'

'Alright. I'll see what I can do.' She tugged the heavy sweater over her head, and made Esposito whistle appeciatively as he saw her cleavage so nicely displayed in the black cotton tank top underneath. With a terrifying efficiency, she pulled pots and pans from his cupboards, ingredients from the fridge and began to work her kitchen magic. Within fifteen minutes the scent of simmering tomato broth and pan-seared chicken thickened the air. He'd passed her the occasional knife or spoon, tasted when she demanded it; every little gesture, the careless flick of fingers or purse of her lips reminded him why exactly he wanted her safe and sound. She'd been in his life exactly one month the following Wednesday and he couldn't imagine being without her now. He'd even canceled a quick working lunch that week with Ryan in order to duck over to FAO Schwarz and buy part of her birthday gift.

She wiped her hands on a towel, set the microwave timer. 'Okay, we'll have soup in about an hour ready to eat.'

'But it smells delicious now.'

'Yes and delicious an hour from now will be like heaven on earth.'

Esposito pulled her close, felt how tense her muscles still were. 'I can think of a few other things that are like heaven on earth.'

'Dirty boy.'

'Says you. I was thinking a hot soak in the tub.'

'What?'

'Why don't you have a bath while dinner sets up? I have a couple of files to go over on other cases anyways.'

A little while later, Meredeth had filled his bathtub with clear, hot water and slid in with an appreciative sigh. It was welcoming as a hug, soothing as tea and made her laugh more than a little at the rubber duck sitting beside the can of shaving cream. Only him, she chuckled to herself as she pulled the shower curtain across for a little modesty. She sank under the near-scalding water, blew bubbles out her nose until she ran out of air and came up breathing deeply, letting her thought drift away like the day's dirt into the water. Vaguely, she imagined another voice in the apartment and when she heard approaching footsteps, she sat up like she'd been jabbed with a pin as a knock sounded on the door.

'Mere? Ryan stopped by for a drink, you have a robe or your clothes in there with you?'

'No,' she replied. 'Just a towel.'

Footsteps retreated, the returned with another knock on the door. 'I'm just coming in to give you my bathrobe.'

When he came in, now with the addition of a t-shirt, he saw the shower curtain was drawn across, her face peeking out from the end of the tub flushed from steam. She'd tossed a folded towel on the closed lid of the toilet, which he passed her. At the sound of the plug being pulled, he shook his head. 'You don't have to get out just because he's here. It's your home too for the next few days.'

'I'm done in here anyways.' She stood up, shoved the curtain aside. 'You might want to shut your eyes for this.'

He was about to ask her why when she began dragging the towel over her body, patting wet skin dry. He had to swallow hard when she rubbed the fabric over her breasts, down her legs. She sent him a smirk as she wrapped the towel around her hair, slid the dark green robe on and tied the belt.

'I told you to shut your eyes. You might want to wait here a moment before come out.'

She strolled into the kitchen, saw Ryan sniffing at the pot of soup while scratching Arturo absently behind the ears. 'You're welcome to stay for a bowl.'

The Irishman's blue eyes danced merrily as he glanced over and saw the curvy brunette cosily tucked into his partner's bathrobe. It wasn't a surprise at all to see how well she fit into Esposito's apartment. 'This is quite the soup, and quite the dog.'

'He's my baby.'

'I didn't realize you were already here, I can always take off if-'

'No.' Inspiration striking, Meredeth crossed to shoo Arturo out of the way and give the soup a stir. 'I think he could use a night of boy-bonding. This news...well, it's got him rattled.'

'Yeah, I know. What'd you say man? Am I crashing a party for two if I hang for soup and X-box?' Ryan said, seeing Esposito walk out of the bathroom, put his hands on Meredeth's shoulders in a subtle show of unity.

'Not at all.'

Later, after Ryan had gone home, Meredeth stretched onto her side in Esposito's comfy bed. She was pleased when his arm came around her and he kissed the back of her neck. The feel of his hands against her freshly bathed skin made her feel just as sexy as being dolled up in black lace lingerie. The night had been one of complete kick-back, the three of them spending a couple of hours playing X-box, and yet she could feel the tension radiating from him like solar rays. Knowing he would probably get about as much sleep as when she had one of her night terrors, she had an idea of how to help him get some rest.

She rolled over to face him, kissed him sweetly. 'That was a good ending to a rather rough day. Ryan's a nice guy.'

'He's one of the best. Thanks, too, for being cool with him spending a few hours here. Watching us act like little boys over video games couldn't have been much fun for you.'

'Well I figured if I tried to take Arturo for a walk or go to a movie you'd have me fitted with a homing bracelet first.'

'Oh that's comes on Monday.'

'You're awful.' She punched him lightly in the chest. 'I appreciate you looking out for me like this. Most guys, well, they'd hide it or they'd downplay it.'

'I'm not most guys.'

'Don't I know it.' She pulled him in for a kiss, twisted so she rolled to her stomach, he to his back. The kiss deepened and she heard him give a little sigh of enjoyment. She moved her mouth over his jaw, whispered in his ear, 'I can think of a way you might sleep better tonight.'

Esposito felt a small smile creep onto his face; it was the first one of the day. 'Yeah?'

'Yeah.' Turning her face into his neck, she ran a hand over his stomach, over his boxers and let her palm rest against him. 'I really think I do,' she told him, tracing her tongue up his neck in a move she knew would send his blood pressure through the roof. Sure enough she felt him shift and come to life beneath her hand; keeping her movements deliberately slow, she traced her fingertips up to the edge of his boxers, then slid them underneath to find the length of him solid as granite.

Esposito tensed at her butterfly-light touch. Those clever fingers knew just was to do to have his breath catching in his chest, wiping his mind clean of all thought except her as she worked him. When he felt something inside shift, as his breath changed its pattern, he lifted his hips from the bed to shed his boxers like a snake losing its skin; naked he groped at Meredeth's body, that soft creamy skin heated and dewing with sweat.

'Mere,' he managed to get out, his words muffled by her temple, 'I'm-'

'No you're not.' Knowing she had the element of surprise on her side, Meredeth promptly released him, scooted down his body, placing hot, lingering open mouthed kisses on his chest as she worked her way south.

'Mere-' It was as far as he got before she took him into her mouth, making his eyes roll back in his head. Everything in the universe had disintegrated except the sensation he felt, blinding white and unspeakably decadent. He brushed his hands through her hair, nearly losing his mind when she sighed and moaned. His hands found purchase in the bedsheets while hers rested on the outside of his thighs as the pressure built until the orgasm rocked through his body like a maelstrom. She never moved until he'd drained himself and he was certain he'd maintained consciousness, when she sat up on her knees beside him and delicately pressed a hand to her mouth.

'Bet that took the edge off,' she all but purred, laying her head against her man's chest so she could feel his heart thundering away.

'And then some.' He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, kissed her forehead. 'Why didn't I think of that?'

'Because you're too busy worrying about me. Aside from the fact that making your brain melt is so much fun, sex is a great stress release. I'll be right back.'

She scooted out of bed, to where he didn't know; he could barely turn his neck to stare at the bedside clock. Instead helay staring at his ceiling, unable to stop a smug, satisfied grin from creeping over his face. His Meredeth never failed to surprise him but he should have known that someone who made her living like Castle, detailing human behaviour, would be able to see through him like glass. More that she not only saw his fear for her safety but wanted to reassure him that she would be fine, which only served to motivate him even more on finding this bodega stalker asshole.

When she came back, she gave him a kiss full on the mouth and he realized she'd gone to brush her teeth so he wouldn't taste himself on her mouth. The simple consideration of it made his already fraying nerves blister away. He pulled her close, squeezing her tightly.

'Javi-'

'Just let me hold on to you.'

More than stressed, she realized; he was scared to death. For her. 'Javi, you're going to get this guy, and when you do, we will celebrate with ice cold champagne and very hot dirty sex. Okay?'

'I know.'

'Try to sleep.'

He eased his grip on her only slightly, so she could turn onto her side and spoon up against his body. Within a few minutes, she was sound asleep with no sign of her night terrors on the horizon. Because he was certain she couldn't hear him, he pressed a small kiss behind her ear and murmured three little words to her before sinking into the welcoming black void of post-sex sleep.

* * *

R_&R&Enjoy_.


	23. Puzzle Pieces

'You're in better spirits today.'

'I'm telling you X-box, Mere's cooking and a decent night's sleep does a body good, bro.'

Ryan smirked as he followed Esposito out of the break-room, lattes in hand. He'd seen Esposito kiss his girlfriend through the curtains of her office the day before; judging how steamy even that was, he had a good idea of why Esposito was somewhat somewhat relaxed and totally focused on Friday morning and it wasn't Meredeth's cooking. 'How's she handling this?'

'Pretty calmly, but I'm just counting the days until it triggers one of her night terrors.'

They stopped at the murder board where they saw Beckett switching out the unknown assailant with a mug shot and began writing his information underneath. Ryan stopped by the board while Esposito continued over to his desk. 'What did you find, Beckett?'

'CSU pulled some saliva from one of the bottles found on scene, and this guy popped out when they ran it.'

'Shawn Raines?'

'Lab flunky at a pharmaceutical company in Hoboken, he was arrested for drug trafficking in 98 when he was twenty-six, claimed he was simply taking supplies to the testing facility at NYU but since he had no papers or anything, he was hauled in and convicted on four counts possession of controlled substances, trafficking amongst others. He lost his life savings on his legal fees along with his accreditation, his job, his fiance and did fourteen months of a three year stint at Sing Sing.'

'Well, when it Raines, it pours,' Ryan said with a grin, making Beckett roll her eyes.

'I'd thought with Castle party-planning for tomorrow night we'd be saved the bad puns, Detective. Raines also has an unsealed juvie record thanks to a judge who opposes the Young Offenders' Act. Our suspect was expelled in eighth grade for stealing science class supplies, and he spent sixteen months in a juvenile detention center where he volunteered in the dispensary as a way to show his rehabilitation was working. He went trained in applied chemistry, got the job working for the Hoboken firm when he was still in college.'

'A pharmacist would know how to mix all kinds of witches' brews, and a guy with a taste for breaking the rules probably wouldn't see it as much of a leap to go from mixing poisons to using them.'

While Ryan and Beckett debated theories, Esposito looked through the CSU report Beckett had left on his desk. He was set to copy into his own notes when his cell peep-peeped Meredeth's ring tone. He pushed the button to read the text and fought to keep his teeth from grinding.

_Went into the office to work with Kristof on storyboards, having a working research lunch with Stuart Porse in IT in ten. Text me if you need anything. xx M._

He immediately hit reply - _Don't leave the building without telling me. We may have caught a break. See you tonight xx J._

Fueled by coffee and purpose, Esposito stalked over to the board where he caught the tail end of Beckett and Ryan's theorizing, but was distracted by the image of Shawn Raines on the murder board. The man looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite place him.

'So why haven't we seen this guy in the last seven years? It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth but no death certificate or missing persons report was filed.'

'Excuse me, Detectives?'

All three turned to see a black-haired woman sporting the coat of the CSU lab techs and three inch heels that barely put her shoulders above Beckett's elbows. 'I wanted to bring over the tox report you asked us to rerun after Brandon Weaver came in.'

'Thanks Andrews. You wanna lay it out for us?' Beckett gestured to her murder-board.

Andrews walked over, her steps quick and efficient. 'First victim, Finch, stomach contents included corn flour tortilla, sauced chicken, sour cream, lettuce, soda, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and a yellow polymer compound. Second victim, Satipo, mixed beans, rice, shredded pork, soda, and our triple threat. Third guy, Weaver, cheese ravioli, alfredo sauce, shrimp, white wine, soda and once again-'

'Sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and a yellow polymer compound.' Beckett felt the edges of a headache begin to creep in. 'In English, por favor?'

'Baking soda, lemon juice, and toner.'

'Toner?'

'Yeah, like in a computer colour printer or photocopier, so chances are your guy-'

'That's it!' Esposito exploded, leaping up from his seat on the edge of Beckett's desk. 'I knew I recognized him! Ryan, you remember yesterday when we talked to Mere at her office, that creepy tech guy came in with her laptop?' He knocked his knuckles against the board under Raines' picture. 'That's him. He's the IT guy at the Web-Zine, Inc. Building were Meredeth works. He changed his hair, maybe got some contacts to change his eye colour, but that's him, only she called him Stuart Porse.'

'An assumed identity would explain why there's nothing on Raines for so long, and who's going to look at a computer guy on the Lower West Side when the victims are all connected in Spanish Harlem?' Beckett folded her arms across her chest. 'Go downstairs and goose the computer nerds, run everything we can. I wanna know this guy inside out by lunchtime.'

'Lunchtime.' Esposito's guts went to water, then ice. 'Meredeth just texted me, she's having lunch with him in-' he looked at his watch - less than ten minutes from now '

Beckett rounded, saw the pure panic on Esposito's face. Her tone immediately went to steel. 'Did she say where?'

'Yeah, his office in the building. Said she was doing a research interview with him.'

'Alright, we need to-'

But she was talking to an empty space, as Esposito had already grabbed his coat off his chair and was all but running for the elevator, Ryan and Beckett doing their best to keep up to him; thankfully they made it onto the lift with him as he furiously stabbed the button for garage level.'

'Esposito, calm down.'

'Not a chance. All it takes is a friendly drink, a coffee, a fucking bottle of water and she's dead before we even breach the building.'

'Look.' Beckett grabbed Esposito by his coat lapels, shook him once. 'Remember your promise to me. Call her, text her, send up a goddamn smoke signal, but let her know we're coming and not to panic, especially if she's already with him. We can't tip him off and risk blowing it all.'

They piled into Beckett's ride, full sirens and lights going as they ripped through midday traffic to Meredeth's office building; Esposito tuned it out as texted her. _Mere, Stuart in IT is our suspect. Don't let him know you know anything. xx J_. They parked, sirens still blaring as the beat cops kept the lookie-lous out of the way. After throwing on their vests, Beckett marched into the building with Esposito and Ryan armed and flanking her. She badged the receptionist and growled, 'Stuart Porse in IT, where's his office?'

'Stuart Porse? He's in basement level three.'

They made a dash for the stairs, as the building's various workers leaped out of their way. Weapons drawn, they entered the floor's main workspace which resembled a ghost-town.

'NYPD!' Beckett hollered to an empty room, realizing the staff was on their lunch break as well. She swept through one row of cubicles, clearing them while Ryan did the same and Esposito began checking full-on offices. A sudden yell from one near the north corner of the floor had them moving silent and deadly as sharks towards its source. 'Stuart Porse! This is the police!'

At the sounds of a struggle ensuing, Beckett nodded at Esposito, who shoulder-slammed the locked door; the frame splintered into toothpicks as he trained his SWAT-grade rifle between the eyes of the mousy-looking man and felt his brain blaze when he saw he had a bottle of soda in one hand and Meredeth by the hair in the other. The front of her shirt was soaked to near-transparency and there were traces of fluid on her chin and neck, but she was alive and literally spitting mad.

'NYPD, you asshole! Get your hands off my girlfriend and get on your knees!'

'I should have known this would happen,' Stuart murmured coldly. 'It's bad enough those filthy minded twits couldn't appreciate her, but now she's gone and left me for you, and I can't let that happen.'

'Fuck you, psycho,' Meredeth snarled, crying out when he tightened his grip on her hair. 'Everyone knows you play nice with IT guys, that's the only reason I said I'd be lost without you.'

'Meredeth, you are too snippy for your own good sometimes.' Stuart sighed dramatically. 'I think someone should wash your mouth out.'

As he tipped the soda bottle towards her mouth, Meredeth twisted away like a petulant toddler refusing her vegetables, giving Beckett the shot she needed. With the cold precision of her training, she pumped two rounds of her police issue into Porse's shoulder, making him cry out in pain and stumble back. With seconds, Esposito was in the man's face, the nose of the rifle on his chest.

'You picked the wrong girl, Porse. She comes with me and I don't play nice.'

'Detective Esposito.' It wasn't Beckett who said it but Ryan, appearing at his side with handcuffs in one hand and his communicator in one hand. 'I need to restrain the suspect while we wait for medical assistance.'

It was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life, but he knew that meant it was also probably the right thing. With a curt nod, he took two steps back so Ryan could move in and slap the handcuffs on the man. He set his weapon on the desk where he saw the remnants of Meredeth's lunch - leftover soup from the night before - and turned to her, saw she was holding the now half empty soda bottle with two fingers. Her face, which had been bright pink while Porse was manhandling her was now chalky with shock. She looked up at him, eyes slightly glassy with the beginnings of the thousand-yard stare in them but her voice was calm and flat, and God help him, still angry.

'Nearly lost all of this into the carpet. Figured you'd need a sample for evidence.'

'You did well, Mere.'

'I got your message and when I went to leave the room to call you back, I saw he'd locked the door. Everything happened so fast, and he kept trying to make me drink the soda, and I kept spitting it back in his face, or just letting it go down my shirt.'

'I see that. I'll bring you fresh clothes at the hospital.'

'Hospital? I'm fine, I'm not going to any hospital.'

Esposito took his jacket off, wrapped it around her shoulders. 'A man tried to poison you and you're in shock, which means you'll probably have a night terror either tonight or tomorrow night. You're going to a hospital.'

'The hell I am! Try it and we'll see who needs a doctor, pal.'

Ryan looked over as he heard Esposito and Meredeth bickering and began to laugh a little. They were already fighting like a married couple; he wondered if Castle really would take a wager on how long it would take them to tie the knot. He was in the mood to clean his friend out of a little cash.

* * *

R_&R&Enjoy_.


	24. Understanding

_Hello faithful readers! Well, here we are, the final chapter of this installment in the 'Cake-Crumbs-verse' of Castle! But not to worry, this is barely a start to the stories that will be up coming! The next one is going to involve Alexis solving her own mystery of the 12th precinct players after a New Years Eve party (and no, no-one dies, it's a fun and funny story with lots of laughs and happiness) So for the last time on this particular story, go nuts kids!_

* * *

She relented to go to the hospital, if for no other obvious reason than the superficial one of shutting her boyfriend up. As they'd followed the ambulance in the car, she was spared that indignity, but was given priority as a patient and was immediately escorted into a trauma room to be given a work-up as the nurse ran off her vital info.

'Patient is Meredeth Coleman, age thirty, was found by police in an altercation with a man trying to poison her. Field stats were stable, heart rate is in the one-tens, blood pressure one-twenty-one over sixty-two. No outward signs of trauma.'

'Meredeth I'm Doctor Greyson.' A tall man with a shock of red hair in a cowlick and steady hands gave her a quick eye-exam to check for signs of head trauma, found none. 'Can you tell us what happened?'

'She was having lunch with a colleague who, unbeknown to her, was a suspect in three homicides and had made her a target for his fourth,' Esposito supplied, his back ramrod straight as he stood beside the gurney. He had to smother a laugh of relief when Meredeth's eyes went to slits and she bared her teeth at him.

'Is your name Meredeth?'

'Sorry. Just trying to help.'

'Thanks.' Meredeth sighed deeply, as the adrenaline slowly ebbed from her system. She was feeling cold but that could have been because her clothes had been soaked with poison-laced soda. 'Javi? You know what would really help? Fresh clothes. I'd rather not go home in these.'

'Well, he'll have time. You've got some bumps and bruises and a knock to the head so I'd like to keep you here over night just to be safe.'

'Over night?' The doctor's words suddenly drove home the point Esposito had been making since he found her in Stuart's office. What if this triggered one of her episodes? She gripped the rail of the gurney, pressed her lips together when she felt Esposito's hand close over hers. Craning her neck, she looked into his face, saw the understanding in his eyes. 'Javi?'

'Would you be giving her any medication?'

'We can give her a sedative if you're concerned she won't be able to sleep.'

'No.' Now there was fear in her voice. Meredeth loathed sleep-aid drugs of all kinds, even night-time cold tabs; they always screwed with her brain and made it more likely she'd waking up screaming in the middle of the night. 'No sedation, no drugs.'

'She has night terrors,' Esposito explained to the doctor, who folded his arms over his chest.

'Meredeth do you take anything for them?'

'Not anymore. My shrink says because they're so sporadic now it'd be impossible to get the dose right.'

'Okay.' Greyson scribbled a note onto the clipboard. 'I'll get you admitted for overnight observation, and I've prescribed a muscle relaxant IV to help you sleep. You've been through a lot and you need to rest.'

Greyson left the room, and Meredeth was taken upstairs to a room that was empty but for a few tired sunflowers in a blue glass vase on the window sill. Once the nurse had left to check on the status of Meredeth's prescription, Esposito dragged over a chair to sit beside her, knowing it was where he'd be for the rest of the night. When he link his fingers through hers, she brought them up to her lips. 'I'm sorry for yelling at you.'

'No, don't apologize Mere, not for this. This was not your fault.'

'Never thought it was; it just didn't really sink in that you were only looking out for me by making me come here. I'm glad you did. I mean, if my grandmother moving to Florida can trigger them, then I doubt we'd get any sleep tonight, and not in the fun way either.'

He laughed, then glanced over when the nurse came in and he smiled broadly in recognition. 'Hey Honey-Milk!'

'I was in the ER when I heard the call come in, thought you might like to see a friendly face. I brought you my spare scrubs,' she added, 'instead of one of those drafty hospital gowns.'

'Thanks.'

'Are they keeping you here for long?'

'Over night, so they can watch for any night terrors.'

Honey-Milk nodded, sighed when her pager went off. 'I'm sorry, I have to run. I'll stop by later before I'm off shift, okay?'

She left them alone again, but not for long, as Beckett and Ryan marched in. 'Raines is going to make it,' she announced, 'they've got him up in the OR digging those bullets out of his shoulder. You did well, Meredeth. Most people would have cracked in situations like that.'

As compliments went, Esposito knew it was one of the highest on Beckett's list and nodded appreciatively. 'They're keeping her here overnight for observation, just make sure she gets some sleep.'

'Ah, good plan.' Ryan rubbed his thumb over his nose, reading between the lines perfectly. 'Anything I can bring?'

'Honey-Milk stopped by, lent Mere her scrubs but some fresh clothes for the morning would be good. I'll lend you my keys to get into her place. Oh and someone needs to call her grandmother and let Arturo out.'

'I can speak for myself, you know,' Meredeth chipped in.

'Boys, can I have a moment with her, alone?' Beckett sent her a soft smile as her favourite two-headed monster left them in privacy. She pulled up the chair Esposito had vacated, put her hands on the gurney. 'Esposito's way of dealing with things like this, when he's really worked up, is to talk. And I don't mean like a therapist's kind of way, I mean he gets trots of the mouth and answers any question even when it's not directed at him.'

'Oh.' Meredeth tugged at the edge of the sheets. 'I didn't know.'

'Well, to be fair, most couples' idea of trauma in the first month of a relationship is meeting friends or family, not putting a stalker in their gun-sights.'

'True say.'

'I'm just saying cut him a little break. Not much scares big bad wolf Esposito, but the notion of you in danger turns him to jelly, Meredeth. I've seen you two together, the connection there and the only other people I've seen like that are Ryan and Honey-Milk, and that's saying something.'

'Is that why you wanted them out of the room? To dress me down for being a bitch?'

'Not being a bitch, I've just heard from Esposito you're a very stubborn woman and being one myself I know how hard it is to swallow your pride and take orders you don't agree with in the slightest. So I figured one hard-head to another might do the trick. That plus you'd have a little more privacy to change so you wont' have those two cavemen peeping at your goodies.'

'Esposito has seen me naked before, you know,' Meredeth pointed out as she began to strip in the semi-modest way women had around other women and tugged the scrubs on. They were soft and fresh, navy blue pants and top with green cartoon aliens dancing over them. 'And he quite likes my goodies.'

'There's sexy naked and there's hospital naked. Trust me, I speak from experience with Castle. There's a difference.' Beckett opened the door to let the men back in, not at all surprised when Ryan had his hand politely shield his gaze. 'Ryan she's fully dressed. No need for Esposito to kick your ass. That aside, we've got medical staff to goose, so we'll leave these two alone.'

In private again Esposito stripped off his jacket and toed off his shoes, put his badge and phone on her bedside table. He could see from the look on Meredeth's face that she was feeling just miserable, and knew exactly what cure she needed. 'Move over.'

'What?'

'Move over,' he repeated; when she obliged he peeled back the stingy hospital bedsheets and crawled in beside her. He wrapped his arms around her pulled her close. 'Thought you could use a hug.'

Meredeth said nothing, just let out a shaky breath. His simple understanding of what she needed, when she was so turned inside out she didn't what that was, made her want to cry, but there were no tears welling up. Instead she draped her arm over his waist, let her hand rest on his hip. 'I guess now would be the wrong time to tell you that you've never looked sexier as when you were holding that rifle on Stuart this afternoon.'

'Yeah, it is.'

'I figured.'

'Mostly because I don't think the hospital staff would appreciate you thanking me the way a white knight should be thanked for slaying the dragon and saving the princess' life.'

Meredeth balled her hand into a fist, gave him a light rap. 'Is that all you ever think about with me? Sex?'

'Nah, I think about sex with you when you're not around too.'

'Pervert.'

'But I'm your pervert.'

'Yes you are.' Meredeth sighed as she left her head fall against his shoulder. How had he managed to do that, she wondered, worm his way into her heart so that the thought of being without him was almost incomprehensible? It shouldn't have been possible and yet here she was, five days away from celebrating one-month anniversary with him and six from her birthday he'd already dropped hints about. His pretty-boy looks she'd first seen at Cecil's had belied a sharp, intuitive brain, and the gorgeous body that coated a passionate and generous lover. Combine all that with a love of the Blackhawks, chocolate and a wicked sense of humour, and it was no wonder she'd fallen so hard and so fast for him. He was, in simple words, her love. Her Javi.

Turning her face into him a little more, she breathed deeply. The scent of him - his clothes, his soap, even his sweat - was a better sedative than any lab-created concoction. 'Do you have your costume all picked out for tomorrow night?'

'I wanted to be a soldier again but Castle nixed that, claiming it a cop-out. So I decided on a pirate. What about you?'

'French maid,' Meredeth said drowsily, making Esposito uncomfortable hot under the collar. Now was most definitely not the time for naughty thoughts to brew, he chided himself. 'You have to go back to work soon?'

'No. I'm staying right here.'

'No nightmares, not tonight,' she mumbled as she fell into the sleep she hadn't realized her body was begging for. When she was out, Esposito kissed the top of her head, still holding her close.

'No, not tonight. Javi's here. I won't let anything happen to you, my love.'

_**FIN**_

* * *

_R&R&Enjoy._


End file.
